Bumps and Bruises
by Arones
Summary: She was watching them carefully: Helen, Will and Henry. She knew who they were and why they were they, but she had to be quiet. It was all part of the plan. Written with Ghostpenwriter-Muse of T .
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This story is written in conjunction with Ghostpenwriter-Muse of T. She had got it into our heads to try and combine Emma and Tegan (our OFC's) realized timing wise it wouldn't really work out and thus created a new OFC to fill our desire to write together. So here you go. The product of our efforts. More is to come, sincerely hope you enjoy. Ghostpenwriter will also be posting this on her account as well if you care to review twice. Thank you all. ~~Arones_

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The rope in her fingers was warm from holding on for so long. She had been there for about an hour following the bunch in after they'd gotten to the cave. She had waited twenty minutes after they left before she put on her own gear and started into the dark rock formation. She was now suspended above the deep crevice about two hundred feet below the cave entrance watching the three flashlights below flicker onto the walls and listening to the conversation as it flowed up to her ears. She tightened her grip on the rope again and shifted her feet hoping the rustling noise of rubber against rock didn't make too much noise. She was startled out of her movements by a loud and frustrated voice.

"Why are we here again? You sure the information said this cave?" The accent was bland at best, but she could still make out small nuances in the words he issued, as well as the terseness he spoke with.

"Will, I trust the source; we're in the right place."

"So, exactly how big is this thing... this bat that we're looking for?" It was the same whiny male voice she had heard before and she wondered if the voice holding the third flashlight ever spoke.

There was a silence that overtook them as the woman spoke, her accept clipped and sharp. British. But she didn't slur her words like some Brits did, it was odd. "Not very large." She noticed a rustling sound and when looking down one of the flashlights were being muffled, probably by a bag. She must have been searching for something. "Perhaps they're further down."

"Further down?" There was a groan that sounded. "There isn't a further down Magnus. And you didn't answer my question."

She couldn't see their faces, but she imaged the whiny man was receiving a particular look. She would have given him one for sure. "About a meter and a half."

"A meter-what? That's not small!"

There wasn't a moment's pause before the Brit woman answered again. "I don't believe I said 'small,' I believe I said not very large. There is a modicum of difference."

"I'd argue that there was a very large modicum of difference." Will threw the oxymoron out as a complaint.

She grinned slightly and brushed at the tickling on her leg; she was certain it was a spider and didn't really want to see the offending creature. She wished she could move further down to hear them a bit better, but until they moved into one of the branches of the cave system she was stuck halfway in her descent. She smiled as the third voice finally spoke up. "We've handled bigger."

"Yeah, but..." There was that whiny voice again. If she were down there she would have slapped him already. "What if it has really big sharp fangs?"

"They don't call them 'vampire bats' for nothing, William." There was a hint of humor in the British woman's statement.

Ah, she finally had a name for the whiny voice: William Zimmerman, mid-thirties, second in command to the woman, previously worked law enforcement and trained by the FBI. Now she knew who was who. It would help her once she descended. She had seen pictures of all of them, knew which was which from sight, but in the dark cave she could make nothing out other than their voices. Repositioning slightly, she felt her foot slip. Leaning into the wall she caught herself and pulled tight on the rope again. Air flowed into her lungs through her nostrils and once again she focused on the three below her. She really wished they would start to move along soon, the straps on her ass were starting to cut circulation and the tingling was beginning to unnerve her.

"Least you're not calling them docile." She heard him speak just as a loose rock slipped and ricocheted off the stone walls further down until it landed loudly below. Everyone in the cave held their breath tightly in their chests.

Helen was the first to recover and let the air she held in her lungs slowly escape. She lifted her hand above her eyes and glanced up at the mouth of the cave that was still directly above them. It was so far away that the light entering through the opening was a jagged oval of bright white and everything else was black. The actual light dissipated before it reached them and she couldn't make out anything above. It was basically shadow and darkness. She lowered her hand and swung her light around. "Door number one?"

"How many choices do we have?" Will spoke, moving his own light from one small opening to another.

"Eenie meenie minie moe, that one is too tiny for my big toe." She thought she might like the one she had deduced was Henry. He seemed chipper enough.

Sighing a breath of relief that the light never traversed in her direction she glanced down again to see the three starting to pick up their gear and head towards the larger cave. Will looked from Henry to the handful of small tunnels branching out of the main chamber. "I really hope this doesn't turn into a 'Sanctum' remake." She waited until they disappeared before releasing her tight grip on the rope sliding down the wall of the cave. Pushing out with her feet she scaled the rock about twenty feet when she heard a loud bang and the fluttering of wings.

"Shit." She muttered when the three lights flashed in panic where they had just come from and the flurry of bats emerged. Holding on tightly to the rope and pressing her face into the rock she closed her eyes and waited for noises to end. It seemed to take minutes before the last flap of a wing lingered in her hearing range. Breathing heavily she moved her head back and tried to get her bearings. The lights were starting to move below her too, so she was sure that the bats were gone. Calming, she moved and scrunched her nose at the smell that rose from her body. She was covered in bat feces. Shuddering at the realization she groaned.

"This is disgusting." The whiny one, Will again. She was now sure that he complained about everything. The woman started giggling and it made her smile; at least she found the man amusing. "Magnus…"

She felt something on her flesh then. Breathing deeply she moved her arm to try and shake off whatever it was that was moving along her skin. It was starting to freak her out. She flapped her arm harder but felt a sting in the top muscle of her forearm. Screaming she let go of the rope and tumbled to the dark cave floor below.

Helen heard the commotion above her and thought it was a remaining bat or two fluttering against a vine; that was until she heard the scream. She looked up and stepped back just in time to not be hit by the falling and flailing body which thudded on the packed dirt and rock at her feet. "Bloody hell."

She moaned as the three bodies above her shone their lights in her face and couldn't see anything beyond blinding white. She wasn't sure what hurt and what didn't hurt. Currently the rush of blood returning to her ass and legs left them throbbing. At least she had worn a helmet and it had protected her head which she was certain had ricocheted off the ground when it hit.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She couldn't make out Helen's features past the blazing light pointing directly in her honey hazel eyes. All she could think was, what kind of doctor doesn't ask if you are ok first? She let out another moan. Helen was staring down at her, her eyes not leaving the woman's face. She didn't recognize her; there was nothing familiar about those features. "I asked who you were. Answer me." The tones turned harsh and the woman's body lifted off the ground in a slight convulsion. She rasped in a deep breath that had Helen kneeling down. "Who are you?" The light was still shining in her face and she tried to turn away from it but found that she wasn't able to move as easily as she thought she could.

"Eh—ee…" The words were garbled and intangible. It wasn't until that moment that Helen reached her hand forward to touch the woman's face.

As her hand touched her check Helen watched her pallor increase and her eyes roll back in her head as her body went completely limp. "Will, I need my medical kit."

He dug through his pack wondering why he was always stuck carrying the medical supplies; he finally surmised it was because he was the most accident prone. He found the requested bundle and pulled it out reaching across the prone woman to hand it to Helen.

She opened the flap and immediately her hand landed on the stethoscope she was looking for. Pulling it out placing it in her ears, she slipped the bell inside the woman's shirt pressing the cool metal against her skin. Her respirations were shallow and her pulse was a little faster than Helen would have liked. She should have also regained consciousness by now. With that thought there was a low grumble from the fallen body. She pulled her the stethoscope out and laid it on the bag.

"Maybe we should start again." This time Helen's voice was softer with a hint of compassion. "Where are you hurting?"

"I'm not." She pushed herself up regretting the movement, but did her best to cover it. She felt hands grab her arms helping her to stay upright as Helen pulled out a small pen light.

"Eyes: look at me." Helen turned the smaller light on and waited until the woman obliged. "What's your name?" She asked while shining the light back and forth checking her pupil reactions.

"Jeci." When the woman was done she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "I'm fine, thank you." Trying to shove herself up to stand was quite an effort, but with the help of whiny William and chipper Henry she managed to stand on her own, that along with help of the wall that she was leaning on. "I'm fine." Stating it once again just for practical purposes she started to tie herself in again to climb back out. Her plan had to be scratched.

Helen put her hands on Jeci's to stop her. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Uh... um... up?" She looked up at the mouth of the cave longing to be over the edge and deep in the rainforest on her own to rethink and, hopefully, get over the embarrassment of her failure.

Henry shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think so."

The boss lady nodded her head and added to what Henry had to say. "I have to agree. After that fall you don't need to be climbing right now, especially not alone. Why exactly are you in the middle of South America spelunking alone? You're obviously not from around here."

She looked at Helen for a minute and blinked quickly. "I'm an explorer and an adrenaline junkie to boot. What can I say?" Her back was resting against the wall otherwise she might have shrugged. "You can't stop me from leaving."

"You obviously don't know her then either." Will muttered under his breath earning a sharp look from Magnus.

Helen turned to the woman, her hands still holding on tightly. "You have a concussion from that fall, there is no doubt of it. You are going to need medical attention and I just so happen to be a doctor."

"Of torture."

"William." That earned another glance from his boss. He was really striking out. "I assure you, I am a doctor, and I can provide care for you."

Jeci nodded slightly her eyes scanning each face. She knew who they were. She knew they wouldn't hurt her. "Then how do you suggest we get out of the cave, because I really don't think any of you can carry me out of here and it's quite a climb."

Helen looked around her letting out an almost imperceptible sigh. Thanks to this 'kid' she was going to have to give up the search for the giant vampire bat that may or may not exist in the first place. She looked up at the entrance of the cave; she was probably the best climber out of the group of them, which wasn't saying much. Judging from the gear Jeci had she wasn't nearly as accomplished as she would have others believe. "Henry and I are going to have to climb up and pull you to the surface."

"Like hell you are." Jeci pushed off the wall only to fall back against it with a soft thud. That was about how much strength she could muster. "I can climb myself."

"Of course, and Elvis is still alive." Will didn't bother to mutter; he was sure Magnus would find amusement in what he was saying and he didn't care what this Jeci person thought of him. She had dropped in on them not the other way around and he wanted answers. Still he knew he had to let Magnus take the lead and play his cards right if they were going to get the girl to actually tell the truth.

Jeci sighed and nodded her head towards Magnus giving full permission for whatever plan she had. "Right, Henry. Upwards we go." Helen grinned and the younger man and sorted their gear. She started the climb and was only a few feet above them when Jeci and Will could no longer see their bodies, only the light from their headlamps. Will tried talking to her but Jeci ignored him, her head was pounding her sides hurt and she really didn't want to hear his voice. Eventually he picked up on her disregard of him and fiddled around with whatever was in the bag.

His radio sounded and he picked it up. "We're ready, hook her up; then you can start up after."

"Right boss." Will turned to Jeci and looked her over in the light he had. "Ready?"

"Do I have a choice?" He shook his head and hooked her up.

"She's ready." Will spoke into his walkie before pocketing it as she was starting to be pulled up. He connected his own harness to the rope Henry had used and started up behind her.

It was a long and somewhat bumpy trip up and took quite a good amount of time before the light from the opening hit her eyes. Finally she saw the edge and tried to prepare herself for the last leg. "Fuck." Jeci cried out when she reached the top and Helen and Henry had to grab her arms to pull her over the ledge and onto the soft ground of the rainforest floor. She lay there for a minute trying to catch her breath but the harder she tried the more elusive it seemed.

Helen watched her for a minute before she realized what was going on. They must have displaced one of her rib fractures when they pulled her up and inadvertently punctured her lung. Before Will could finish scrambling over the edge Helen was already rummaging through his pack and pulling out the med kit grabbing the supplies she would need to put in a rudimentary chest tube in the field. She handed the vial of Lidocaine to Will as he stood.

"Draw up ten cc for me. Henry I need you to find some type of rigid tubing." Hearing the fabric and zippers move off to her side she was handed the Lidocaine just as she noted the sound of success from Henry. Glancing over, she saw him pulling out the bladder and tubing out of his camel pack, the one he'd bought just for this trip. She grinned at his ingenuity. "Well done Henry." She handed him the bottle of Betadine and asked him to clean the end of it while she prepped Jeci's chest.

"You aren't going to do…what I think you're going to do..." Jeci gasped and eyed the scalpel Helen was wielding, knowing it wasn't going to matter that Helen had just shot the area up with Lidocaine. This was going to hurt.

"Afraid so." She didn't give her time to second guess what was about to happen. Instead with a steady hand, Helen made a small incision and took the waiting tube from Henry's outstretched fingers. "You're going to feel some pressure."

"Like hell in a freezer drawer." Jeci grunted as Helen pushed the tubing in the incision and between her ribs until it punctured into the chest cavity allowing the blood and fluid that was pressing against her lung to evacuate. Almost immediately she was able to breathe easier. "Thank you." She was relieved to instantly have air flowing in and out of lungs at a more normal rate. Her eyes glided over to the brunette who was still bent over her.

"Better?"

"Yes." She looked at Henry who was avoiding her and Will who was giving her a hard stare. "Now what?"

"Considering the hospitals here are few and far between, I think you'll be going back with us so I can take care of you and find out just what other injuries you sustained."

That might not be a bad plan, but she couldn't seem eager. "Surely there is a hospital closer to us then where ever you're from."

"Do you really want me dropping you off in some jungle hospital where they use rusty needles and only speak Spanish?" Helen was packing her stuff up again as she spoke and Will took the opportunity to add to the threat. "Not to mention the hospitals here are probably surrounded by armed guerillas."

"No." Jeci whispered and then spoke slightly louder. "I guess not, but there's no way I can walk out of here."

Helen eyed her curiously, knowing her current lung condition would leave her weak along with the concussion. She wondered why she wasn't already tossing her cookies from the sluggish reaction of her pupils. She began to wonder just what other injuries she was hiding. "Just before you fell you screamed?"

She blushed sheepishly. "Spider."

"You screamed because of a little spider?" Will asked incredulously.

"I didn't say little, it was big and it bit me." Her voice was higher pitched than normal and it rang in her ears after she finished speaking.

Helen again turned her full attention on the interesting girl who fell from the sky. "Where?"

"Here." She pointed to the offending bite. "It's nothing."

Helen twisted the arm in her fingers and looked cautiously at the bite. There was a small red welt but it didn't look bad by any standards. "Anything else?" She watched Jeci shake her head slowly and her eyes fluttered. "Nauseous?" Her only answer was a slight nod. "Alright, we have ATV's, but it's going to be a rough ride." Again a nod. "Ready?"

"Yeah, might have to stop on the way though."

"If it's necessary, we will." They maneuvered the woman on the ATV that Helen would be riding and started off at a slower pace than either Will or Henry ever wanted to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Helen's fingers were gripping tightly into her left leg as the she drove one handed. The nails were biting into her skin through the denim of her pants but she couldn't blame her. She had fallen off the back of the ATV rather unexpectedly. They rounded the last corner and a large building came into view. Jeci tightened her grip around Helen's middle, and her eyes roved over the yellow walls and massive size as they moved closer.

"Is that where we're going?"

The brunette turned her head and answered. "Yes, we'll be able to look after you there." She pushed the throttle and picked up speed until they came to the garage where they parked. "Don't get off." Helen issued the order sliding off the machine with her hand still on Jeci's thigh making sure she didn't move. Facing the woman her eyes looked her over.

Jeci gave information thinking that she needed to start somewhere with the woman and her welfare seemed to be a good place. "My leg hurts."

"I have no doubt of that." Helen's eyes slid over to her young protégé who was pulling their packs off the back of his ATV.

"What? I said I was sorry. I didn't see her and I so was not expecting her to fall."

Helen helped Jeci off the vehicle by placing her hands under her arms and holding on tightly. "Get a wheelchair, Will. We'll discuss your driving at a later time."

"Wonderful." He muttered and left the room to do his boss' bidding.

Will returned quickly with the wheelchair and helped his boss get Jeci situated. He started to push her. "I'm not sure I want you as my driver."

The comment wasn't a snide one and Will leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I'm a safer driver than Magnus there."

"Could have fooled me."

"Try flying with her sometime." He straightened back up ignoring the cool blue glare from Helen.

"Stop fooling around and take her to the infirmary, please." The last word was added as an after-thought.

Helen glanced at Henry and nodded to him before vacating the room. It didn't take her long to change into clean and more comfortable clothes, but she didn't have time to wash her hair. She needed to check on her patient who would also need a bath. A sponge bath, since that was all that they would be able to do for a time. Pulling her hair into a pony she flipped it over her shoulder and made her way back down to the infirmary. It was well known throughout the Sanctuary network that she did not like other doctors handling her patients, so she was sure that no other doctor had touched Jeci's files or taken care of the woman since she was not in critical condition.

Jeci was in a bed where Helen assumed Will had put her, but she may have refused his help considering how hard headed she was turning out to be. The pouch of the camel bag was lying on the mattress beside her and had a lot of blood and fluid in it. She really needed to get it changed out for a proper chest tube with a correct drainage system so she could track the drainage and be able to gauge when the tube could be removed. But first she needed to get her washed up and checked over; then she would pump her full of pain meds before doing anything else. Of course it might be easier on Jeci if she started with them, but she needed her to be coherent for her questions and she still wasn't sure how bad the concussion was. If it was what had caused her to fall off the ATV then it was worse than Helen originally suspected.

"We need to get you undressed."

"Wha-what?" Jeci swallowed hard, her eyes widening and roving over the woman.

Helen stopped and looked up from the file she'd been holding. "You need to undress, you have bat feces all over you and I will not leave you covered in them. It will also make assessing your injuries easier."

"Right." Staring down at her toes, Jeci drew in a deep breath. "Can I get some help?"

Helen debated telling her she would get Will to help her as she pulled the curtain closed around them giving her some privacy. She pulled a sheet off the foot of the bed realizing she was going to have to put her in a clean bed after washing her up. The last thing she needed was bat guano getting into her chest cavity. She would have to pump her full of antibiotics as it was. She hated having to play field medic, it was never anywhere close to sterile.

She helped Jeci undress and examined her using the sheet to offer her some sense of modesty. She had a tire mark on her leg and it was swelling. She would need to get x-rays to make sure Will hadn't fractured her lower leg. In the very least she had probably sprained her knee from the way it turned when the ATV rolled over it. Luckily it was only the front wheel. She really needed to talk to Will about how closely he had been following them.

"Well there doesn't seem to be too much damage done." Helen sighed and looked over the woman lying on the bed with only a sheet covering her.

Jeci raised an eyebrow and snapped her eyes to Helen's face. "Not that bad? I have plastic coming out of my chest. A massive concussion. A hurt leg from being run over. And you call that not bad?"

"Will didn't mean to run you over."

"Will."

"Ah." Helen caught on. "Yes, Will and Henry. Sorry, forgot proper introductions. I'm Helen Magnus; I run the network that this facility is attached to."

Jeci paused for a moment and clenched her fists. "Which is…?"

"The Sanctuary Network, we conduct private research." Jeci huffed out a breath of air and glanced back. "You'll be getting a bath."

"A bath?" She mocked the way that Helen said the words, her faux British accent actually being quite accurate.

"Yes, a bath." The corners of Helen's eyes crinkled and her body moved forward before she turned to begin the process.

She took a deep breath, if Jeci didn't cool her heels just a bit she was going to be rougher than necessary. She let the breath out knowing she would never intentionally mistreat a patient no matter how obstinate. Besides she was right, Will had run her over; but had they not been there who knows how long she would have laid at the bottom of that cavern before being found. Days? Weeks? Though Helen was pretty sure she didn't buy the adventurer sightseeing story. When she helped her undress she didn't notice the calluses of an avid climber, and the cave they had been in was not for amateurs.

Turning back she moved the table with a basin of hot water and several wash cloths closer to the bed. She didn't want to have to rinse them out and reuse them or the dirty water. She used a clean rag for each body part allowing Jeci the privacy of cleaning her face, torso, and private areas before helping her into a patient gown. As she finished up, she scrubbed her arm a little too hard, but it was only because the guano had dried like cement. "Ouch! Be careful would you?"

"You know," Helen spoke calmly, pressing her glove covered fists into the mattress by Jeci's hip. "This isn't my fault. I didn't invite you into that cave, and I didn't make you let go of the rope."

"That isn't the point."

"It's not?"

Jeci clenched her jaw tightly and thought over what she could say. She growled out the words, "You let little boy wonder run me over."

"I hardly let him run you over, or told him to do so. It was an accident; they have been known to happen. And if you remember it was us who pulled you out of that cave and saved your life."

"It was you pulling me out of that cave that almost cost me my life." She huffed a breath of air and choked back a cough that threatened to rattle through her chest.

Helen bit her lip calming her heart rate that felt as though it had doubled. Drawing in a deep breath she let it out. "I'm tired of this attitude. You have no right to come in here and treat us like this. All we've done is be helpful and caring towards you and all you've done is throw it back in our faces. Either stop with the attitude or I'll have someone take you to a local hospital."

Jeci felt utterly chastised. And she should have felt that way, which only made the weight of guilt sink further into her stomach like a lead magnet that was pulling every unsure and tenuous emotion she had and centering it to overwhelm her. The tears built in her eyes and she shook her head to try and rid them. When that didn't work she threw her head back taking in deep and slow breaths which only caused her chest to hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean… I didn't mean to be disrespectful."

"Alright, alright." Helen patted her uninjured leg and changed the subject. "I need to change your chest tube and get an x-ray of your leg. I'm going to give you medication so it won't be as painful." Jeci nodded.

Helen walked back into the infirmary after looking over the x-rays. She had really done a number on her ribs, but her leg was free of any fractures that could be picked up on film. That didn't mean there weren't micro fractures, or that the bone wasn't bruised which often times hurt the same as an actual break. Then there was the swelling in her knee. She would keep a close eye on the girl and do an MRI if the pain persisted. She'd planned to tell her all that, but she was out like a light which couldn't have anything to do with all the Morphine flowing through her veins.

Smiling she covered her with a warm blanket and made her way up to her temporary office where Will and Henry were hiding out waiting for their orders. She shed the white lab coat on her way and stepped into the room. Immediately she scrunched her nose. Although each had showered they had obviously missed a good scrub. "I need you two to go back to the cave, take a few people from here. I need you to find that bat."

"You want us to climb back down there."

"Yes." She stepped up to her desk and shuffled the papers there.

"Now?"

"No, in the morning." She glanced at her watch. "It's far too late now and the bats were startled. Dinner will be in an hour. I suggest you shower, again."

Henry and Will gave each other a look before the former spoke up. "Uh…Doc?"

"Yes, Henry?"

"You're the one that smells."

Helen realized it was her hair she was smelling and not one of them. She cleared her throat. "Right, I haven't had time to get a proper shower."

"You might want to do that." Henry fanned the air in front of his nose. "Like before dinner."

Helen was freshly cleaned and dressed when she walked into the infirmary carrying a tray with two covered dishes stacked on it and glasses: one with water and one empty for the can of cold Coke beside it. She put the tray down and placed one of each of the items and utensils on a table before sliding it over the bed where Jeci was laying. She pulled the lid off revealing roast beef with roasted carrots, potatoes, and homemade gravy covering everything, off to the side was a warm dinner roll. "I hope the food is up to your standards."

Jeci eyed the other woman for a minute as she put her own items on a table and pulled over an adjustable rolling chair to sit in while she ate. Picked up her fork and fiddling with it, Helen took a calculated sip from her glass waiting for Jeci to speak as she obviously had something on her mind. "I'm really sorry about the way I acted earlier. I just..."

Helen nodded; she understood. Pain made people act like jerks sometimes. "Want to tell me where you're from, Jeci?"

"Now?" She speared a piece of the beef that was so tender it was falling apart and shoved it in her mouth. She chewed carefully feeling Helen's patient eyes on her. She swallowed. "A little of everywhere lately, but I uh, I grew up in this little po-dunk town in Kansas."

"Kansas? I've been there a time or two." Blue eyes twinkled before Helen took a bite of her own meal. "Where are you from now?"

Everything in Jeci's head came to a stop. Her mind was yelling curse words and flinging around excuses and places, but when she opened her mouth the wrong words came out. "Old City."

Helen stopped eating then. Her shoulders tensed and her brow rose; she stared at the young woman who had become fascinated with her meal and its arrangement on the plate. "Old City." She repeated calmly. "And how long have you been there?"

"Not long, new job, new digs." She took a bite of the beef to try and stop talking. The woman was like a truth drug. Her stomach flipped and even without looking up she knew Helen was still staring at her, as if trying to read her. Her appetite went from that of a starving lion to a tiny chickadee that had already eaten half a slice of bread in under a second.

"New job? What kind of work do you do?"

She had seen that question coming from a mile away, or maybe ten miles. Why had she said Old City? "Research."

"Really?" Helen grinned letting her eyes fall to her plate as she speared a bite sized potato and put it in her mouth feeling the softness burst from the skin as she clenched it between her back molars.

Jeci nodded and opened her can of Coke, pouring the brown fizzy liquid into her glass she hoped Helen didn't notice the slight tremor in her hand as she did so. She hazarded a glance in her direction; sure enough she was staring right at her shaky hand. "Kinda, sorta? I work for a vet in a low down scum of an office. I… I got fired from my last job and it was all I could get on short notice. Anyway, this research thing came up and I jumped at the opportunity. I took two weeks off and headed down here to check it out." At least she was on a roll with whatever lie she was coming up with. "Where are you from?" She decided to change the subject, knowing that she would have to act surprised when she heard the answer.

"Old City."

"Wow! Really? What a coincidence…" She ate her carrots.

"You said you came down here for a 'research thing'?" Helen made finger quotes around the words before picking up her water and taking a drink as if she was only partially paying attention. Not that she ever paid only half a mind to anything.

"Um-yeah. This guy, well he emailed me about this bat that was spotted down here. I was supposed to come down and observe it."

"A specific kind of bat?"

"Yeah, one that's supposed to be extremely rare, hard to find, and apparently larger than normal." Jeci felt far more on even keel with this woman talking about research and things other than her personal life.

"Did he say how big this bat was?" Helen put her drink down and went back to her food trying to act as though she was only making small talk over dinner.

"He said it could be as big as me, but I didn't believe him."

"And that didn't scare you? Coming down here all by yourself and going in a cave where you might run into a bat as big as you?" Helen bit into her roll and watched Jeci's expression.

"You're kidding right? There's no way there's a bat even half my size out there in that cave. I was just going to check it out, make some shit up and get my five grand. Not to mention all my expenses were paid and it's not like I've never done field research before." She tore her roll in two and used it to sop up some of the gravy and bits of beef left on her plate.

"Hotel?"

"Mosquito net and sleeping bag. But the plane flight was paid for, first class. Which leaves in two days, by the way. Think I'll be out of here then?"

"He didn't give you very long to investigate this claim." Helen lifted a brow.

She grinned, weaving in truth and lies. "I've already been down here a week partying it up."

"What did this man want you to do with the bat?" She took another bite, her eyes flicking over and watching.

"Capture it. Bring it back. Take some of its blood." Jeci chomped her teeth on the inside of her cheek. Whoops, she went too far with that truth. She finished her meal quickly and laid back. "I'm really tired. Do you mind if I catch some z's?"

"No, not at all." Helen took the empty plate and put it back on the tray. Taking a deep breath she turned and leaned against the counter fixating her gaze on the curly haired woman. "Why are you here, Jeci? Tell me the truth this time."

Grinding her molars Jeci locked her eyes on Helen's smooth and curious face. It was rather unnerving for Helen as the color of her eyes was so pale in the harsh light of the infirmary. "I told you. I was paid to come here and capture a bat that doesn't exist. Will I be able to leave in two days?"

Helen shook her head. "No."

"I could leave now if I wanted to." Jeci countered her. She wasn't used to being told no, and the few times in life when she was told no or even that she couldn't do something she had proven whoever it was wrong.

Helen almost told her she would like to see her try, but thought better when she realized Jeci would only see it as a challenge, so she softened her approach. "I really don't think it is wise in your current condition."

"You're probably right. I mean, how far would I get with my rear flapping in the wind?" She motioned with her hands to the patient gown she was wearing.

"Who asked you to come down here, Jeci?" Helen hoped using her name would make her feel more at ease, befriended.

"I don't know." She was lying and they both knew it.

"Do you know why he wanted the bat? What kind of tests were you supposed to run on the blood?"

"I was just supposed to collect the blood." She grimaced in pain and Helen stood up straight. "I really am tired."

Helen nodded. "Can I give you something to make you more comfortable?"

"Can you? I mean with my concussion and all?"

"I can, I'll have to wake you up a couple times tonight to check your neurological responses which I'd have to do anyway."

"Then yes, please, I'd like that."

Helen slipped a mixture of Demerol and Phenergan into her IV knowing it would probably keep her out a little longer than the Morphine and give her time to look into her background some. She wanted to find out exactly what her educational background was, and anything else she could manage to dig up. "I don't think I caught you're last name?"

Jeci swallowed hard and her eyes started to droop. She turned her head to face Helen. "Johan…" She let the last letter linger on her lips as she mumbled the rest.

The doctor stepped closer and touched Jeci's cheek. "What was that?"

"Johansnnn…" Again the last letter was drawn out but at least this time Helen understood what she'd said. "Use-ta… use-ta call me JJ." She licked her lips. "Hate it." Her heavy eyelids were getting harder and harder to lift. Helen waited quietly until she was sure she was sleeping and then removed their dinner tray before returning. She sat in the chair at the desk and picked up her work tablet to start a background search on the woman. It wasn't every day that something like this dropped in her lap. She seemed honest enough, but there was a niggling feeling in the back of throat that told her there was far more beneath the surface.


	3. Chapter 3

Will rappelled down into the cavernous cave behind Henry for the second time in as many days, only this time they weren't accompanied by Helen Magnus and they didn't really have a clue what they were doing. They knew they were supposed to bag and tag a four to five foot bat. Desmodus rotundus: the common vampire bat, though Will doubted there was anything common about a human sized, blood sucking, flying mammal.

"You know this particular species feeds on the blood of humans and only humans, right?" Henry rubbed at his neck.

"Only if you're sleeping, dude." Will adjusted his pack on his back and swung his light around. "So, unless you sleep on the job we shouldn't have a problem." He looked around again. "Why didn't we come back at dusk and just wait for him to come out? I mean he is nocturnal after all."

Henry shrugged and pointed to the tunnel where they had disturbed all the bats the previous day. "Shall we?"

Will shook his head. "I like this one better; it looks like it's the perfect size for Nikola's 'Mini-Me' to get in and out of."

Checking to make sure he had his gun set to tranqs, Henry nodded. "Lead the way, Sancho."

Taking the first tenuous step forward, Will looked back to make sure the rest of the crew was following. There were four of them in total and he was far more worried about being in charge of this mission than the abnormal that they had come to capture. Breathing deeply he carried on, with Henry close behind and the two Brazilians after him. All lights were on the floor and it wasn't until Will slipped and unceremoniously made his way down a natural slide in the rocks that he decided to push his light further ahead of where he was stepping. He really didn't want that to happen again. Calling back to the group behind him to inform them of his discovery he obviously missed the timing as Henry let out a squeak. "Hey! Watch the slide!" The HAP sped down the natural formation on his rear.

Henry's body came to a stop against Will's rubber sole as he glanced back to see the two lights from the Brazilians' follow his path. "Thanks for the heads up dude." The words were growled out.

"Well you were following a bit too closely." He snuffed at the man and turned to go on his way without offering him a hand up. It hadn't helped that the formation was covered in bat feces making it extra slippery. Will paused and pointed his light up into the cavern where the slope had deposited them. _It really couldn't be that easy could it?_ "Henry."

"Yeah?" He finished brushing what he could of the bat guano off his backside.

"Tell me that's a bat shaped stalactite up there." He pointed his light directly at the bulge.

"Dude," A giant grin engulfed Henry's face. "Are stalactites covered in fur?"

Will swished his own light away and laid his hand heavily on Henry's forearm moving his light from the bat. Turning his own beam to his face he motioned for quiet; he really didn't want that thing waking up unless absolutely necessary. Pulling out his gun from where it was secured on his leg he checked the blue tranqs. Breathing deeply, he lifted the barrel and squeezed the trigger lightly going just past the safety point. Using his left eye he focused in on his target and released the air from his lungs while tightening his pointer finger and letting the tranq fly. He hit the target but the drug did not have the immediate effect on the abnormal he was hoping for.

The bat reared back, spreading its wings and screeching loudly. The three people behind him covered their ears in a panic but Will just aimed and fired two more rounds into the body of the beast. Breathing heavily, he watched as it flew up the full height of the cavern and swooped down grabbing him by the shirt. The gun slipped from his fingers and he reached up to cover the claws of the abnormal that were holding onto his shoulder. He started to tremble as he rose higher and higher into the air.

If he thought the bat was going to drop him, he was wrong. At first the fact that the clawed beast was holding so tightly to him was a relief, once he blocked out at least some of the pain. But as he rose higher into the cavern he realized the bat wasn't going to kindly put him back on terra firma. The other problem was what if the tranqs kicked in and the bat plummeted to the ground with Will beneath him?

He felt the air around him swirling as the bat flapped its great wings pulling him higher and higher before diving low to the ground dangling his prey just inches above Henry and the other men before he rose again. It was as if he was teasing them and tormenting poor Will all at the same time. He dove again only this time he was heading straight for the rock wall. Instead of hitting it face first he flung into a u-turn letting Will's body graze the outcropping none too softly and letting out a stark screech once more.

Henry was watching from below as Will was dragged about like a ragdoll. "Will! Hold on!"

"You expect me to let go!" The voice was heard from a distance as the bat had once again swooped upwards.

"Good point." Henry waited again to try and shoot a few more tranq's into the animal but with the way it was dangling Will the man's body was blocking all his shots. "Damn it." He muttered to himself and traded the gun for a large stunner that he'd put in his pack on a whim. "Never leave home without it." He stated to no one in particular while aiming carefully; he fired the weapon and watched as the bolt of electricity hit both man and abnormal. The bat dropped like a lead weight.

He ran over to where Will had landed and checked on his friend before aiming the weapon once more at the bat and circling it. He cocked his head to the side when he realized that the animal was not only not moving, but it wasn't breathing. Stepping closer to it he noticed that a stalagmite was pushed up through its back and exited through its front.

"Magnus is going to be so pissed…" Will was out cold and was going to be no help at all, but at least he was still breathing. He was pretty sure it was only from the stun and not from hitting his head, and if he was right the fluffy haired boy should be waking soon. He mumbled to no one in particular as he glanced from human to beast, "Why is it big abnormals are always the ones who can't handle a little stun gun? That or they always have to fall on the wrong thing and kill themselves." He looked at the two Brazilians who were just standing there staring. He wasn't sure if they were in shock or if they knew how Magnus would react, but they were being completely useless. "Well don't just stand there, do something. Help Will."

He'd been in enough of these situations to know what to do, and as much as he hated the bloody stuff he was currently the only one he trusted who could do what needed to be done. Digging through his sack, he pulled out the supplies he would need before stepping up to the large and now definitely dead bat. The most important thing was to gather the blood samples before it completely bled out and while the blood could still be secured and preserved. That would at least save some face with Magnus during her fury. "Oh man." He spoke to himself. "Come on man, pull yourself together. Just put on your superman boxers and do this."

After filling seven and a half of the ten vials he turned back to the Brazilians. "We're going to have to lift this thing."

The three men surrounded it, each taking a side and lifting with all their might. The beast didn't budge. They tried again, this time making sure that each was pushing at exactly the same time with all their weight and from their legs. They moved the heavy dark brown body an inch or two off the rock but the other two men gave up and the bat slid down further than before. Henry issued them a sharp look that they missed because the stalagmite was still between them. He'd been practicing that look from all the times Magnus gave it to him and he was a bit disappointed that he couldn't see if it worked. Shrugging, he looked over at Will who was finally starting to move again he made the men try one more time.

Fingers pressed into the warm and bloody skin of the bat and they pushed with as much strength as they could muster. This time the beast didn't move at all. The men were becoming worn, and Henry realized he would have to change tactics. Glaring and huffing out heavy breaths he tried to come up with a new plan. "Alright, I'll do it." Stripping down to his boxers, that were not the superman one's he'd wanted to be wearing but rather a boring old man blue plaid, he started to transform. His teeth were bared, his nose elongated, his ears became pointy, and his body was covered in hair. The fabric around his waist ripped and tore and he shuddered as soon he was completely in his new form.

Sliding his arms under the bat he hefted and lifted the thing off the rock and laid it gently on the ground before transforming back into his human self and dressing quickly. He leaned beside Will who was grinning at him. "I saw your butt, dude."

"Glad to see the smack to your head didn't do any damage." Henry smiled back and patted his best friend's leg. "I'm gonna have to pull you up the wall."

"I'm thrilled."

Henry smirked. "Just pretend like you're the chick yesterday, only please, please, pleeeease with far less attitude. That chick was annoying."

Will snorted in response. "Yeah, anything for you."

It was a difficult task getting the bat back to the main cavern; luckily Will was much easier to move since he could partially walk. Despite swearing he was ok, Henry refused to let him move too much on his own. Magnus would have his ass on a silver platter to use as target practice if he caused Will anymore harm.

After securing Will in his harness and the bat in another apparatus Henry and the two Brazilians climbed out and started the tedious task of pulling the bat up. It took all three of them to pull the dead weight up to the surface and over the ledge. After drinking half a canteen of water and a five minute breather Henry started the arduous task of pulling Will up. It wasn't until he got him to the ledge that Henry enlisted the help of the Brazilians who were still trying to figure out how to attach the bat to the back of one of their ATVs. Henry would have let them drag the thing hog-style if he didn't think Magnus would only kill them more, and if there was a way to be deader than they were already going to be, she'd find it.

"Man, I think you're heavier than that thing." Henry motioned to the bat that they'd just barely managed to lift the few feet from the ground to the ATV and were lashing it to the rack. "Oh, and promise me you won't fall off the back of my four wheeler like that Jeci chick did."

"I'll try." Will made no promises as Henry helped pull him to his feet and over to the red ATV they would be riding back to the Sanctuary on.

Will had gripped Henry's shirt tightly the entire way back and Magnus had to work on getting his body unplastered from the HAP's. It wasn't that he didn't want to let go but having been tossed around and then stuck in one position for more than hour he didn't think that he could move. He was positioned into a wheelchair and moved toward the door while Magnus had some harsh words with his compatriot. He didn't really hear what was said because his head was starting to pound, but he was pretty sure he got the gist of it. He didn't want to have a secondary lecture for his benefit either. She pushed him down the hallways and into the same room that Jeci was still resting in.

The young caramel haired woman turned her head at the intrusion and smirked when she saw it was Will who was being brought into the room. "What'd you do to land in here with me, whiny-boy?" She called over to him.

Will glanced up at Magnus and shrugged. "Well it's better than huggy-bear."

"Yes, whiny-boy is far truer to your nature." The Doctor laughed and helped him to sit on a bed and telling him to pull his shirt off.

Will pouted momentarily before answering Jeci's question. "That bat is not so friendly when it comes to tranq's apparently. It's not a docile creature."

"What'd it do?" She was trying hard to keep her curiosity from bubbling too much.

"Picked me up, dragged me around, hit a wall or two, dropped me: you know, the usual." He laid back as Helen shined a light in his eyes.

Helen knew Will could be a drama queen when it came to injuries, but only when they were simple things like a splinter. When it came to the hardcore stuff he was really quite a trooper, though she suspected it was because he didn't really like medical doctors poking and prodding at him. She checked his pupils, asked him the pertinent questions: Who is president? What's today's date? When's your birthday? "When's the last time you had intercourse?"

"That's not one of the questions." He sputtered.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were actually paying attention." She grinned lightly while looking at the small puncture wounds in his shoulder from the bats claws making a mental note to scrub them clean. They weren't too deep so he was in luck.

"You know that's called sexual harassment." He joked back.

"Uh huh, and you not having to pay taxes every year gives me the right to say whatever I please." She winked over at Jeci. "Don't worry he pays his taxes. So, William, where are you hurting?"

"You know the usual: everywhere."

Helen pulled the curtain giving them some privacy, since she doubted he wanted Jeci seeing his ivory white bum when she made him strip down. "Why can't I keep my underwear on?"

"You know the routine, Will."

"Fine." He dropped his shorts quickly cupping his privates and blushing lightly before taking the sheet she offered him.

She ran her fingers over his skin and the bumps and bruises feeling for any breaks. "Well I'm not finding anything broken, that's a start. I'll have to take x-rays just to be sure. I'm sure, however, that you have a concussion."

"I could have diagnosed that."

"Yeah, you've had quite a few of them, haven't you?" She patted his cheek lightly. "Alright, into a gown."

"A gown." He whined and she laughed.

"Yes a gown, William. I need x-rays." She handed him the offending item and left the room so he could dress himself. Stepping up to Jeci's bed she ran her hand along her arm. "Looks like you'll have company tonight."

"Wonderful." She rolled her eyes and smiled. "It'll be nice though—wait, does he snore?"

Magnus shook her head, the loose curls at her shoulders bouncing with the movement. "Though sometimes he talks." Leaning down conspiratorially she whispered, "If he does, tell me what he says, yeah?"

Her eyes closed as her lips curved upwards. "Promise."

"It seems we'll be heading back to Old City in the morning; care to join us for the flight?" Helen fiddled with the medical board in her hands and tried to look nonchalant in her request. Either way the woman would be going back with them whether she wanted to or not. She had quite a bit to learn about young Jeci.

She opened her eyes and looked at Helen for a second. "Will told me I didn't want to fly with you."

"Did he now?" Her eyes slid over to where her protégé was dressing unseen on the other side of a curtain and she smirked. "Has he told you how much of a fraidy-cat he is? Scared of everything, that one."

"I am not!" He called over the courtesy curtain and opened it before backing onto the infirmary bed so no one would see his white bum. "I've been in two crashes with you Magnus. Two! In the year and a half I've been working for you."

"And you've survived both I might add. I would also like to point out that I was not flying when we crashed in the Hindu mountains."

"Semantics." He mumbled and lay back trying in vain to pull the cover over his legs. Helen giggled and moved to help.

Jeci watched the exchange carefully before deciding how to answer. She needed more information. "Are you taking the chest tube out?"

"Not likely in the next twenty-four hours." Helen pulled up the side bars on Will's bed.

Jeci bit her lip before running her eyes over the woman who looked too damn sexy in a white lab coat, all prim and proper. "Then do I even really have a choice?"

"You always have a choice." Helen kept her back to her even though she could feel her gaze slipping over her body.

"I do?" She sucked her lower lip in thought. "What's my other choice then?"

"Well, you can pull the tube out and collapse your lung so you can walk out of here tomorrow. Or," She turned, "Rather than hobble with that bum knee of yours, I can have one of the staff here drop you off at one of those hospitals we talked about yesterday, or you can go with us where I can continue to care for you until you are healed."

"Some choices." Jeci grumbled, but the truth was it was in her best interest to go with Helen back to Old City and find out what had happened to the bat. Of course she was hoping Will would give her some of the information in his sleep.

"Well, it's up to you. I'll let you sleep on it and you can tell me your decision in the morning. We'll be leaving at ten." Helen turned back to Will. "Let's get you x-rayed and give you something for pain so I can clean up those wounds."

"Do I have a choice?" He smirked.

"No, you don't." Helen looked pointedly at him.

"How come she gets a choice and I don't?" He whined.

"Because you, dear William, are under my employment."

She wheeled him out of the room and left Jeci to her own devices. Leaning over carefully in order not to jar her broken ribs and chest tube more than absolutely necessary, she reached for the tablet she'd been given to use while in their care. Pulling up the internet she logged into an email account and checked the mail. Nothing. Going to the drafts she found no pre-typed and un-sent messages. Opening a 'new message' she started to type before saving as a draft and logging out of the email. Now all she had to do was wait; it could be days before she heard anything. Settling back into the pillows she opened up a game and started to move the cards back and forth on the screen.


	4. Chapter 4

Jeci had fallen asleep almost as soon as they got her settled in the Old City Sanctuary infirmary. She had talked almost incessantly to Will and Henry on the flight about movies and comics. Helen had been careful to avoid topics of any abnormals despite the nagging sensation deep in her gut that told her Jeci knew more about abnormals and the Sanctuary than she let on. She couldn't prove it, and the feeling was only a small one that bubbled from time to time. She thought it might have even been a partially undigested piece of potato from the previous night's stew, but was going to keep a close eye on her either way. While she slept Helen checked in with Will who, aside from the concussion he'd sustained, was no worse for the wear. He said he was going to work on his report from the bat fiasco before trying to catch a few hours himself. She nodded watching him for a minute longer before turning to head down into the labs.

Settling in, she drew up a small amount of blood and placed it on a slide before putting it in a dye bath to get a better look at it. Next, she took just enough to run it through the analyzer and see how it compared with the source blood she and the five had injected themselves with all those years ago. While that was processing, she began readying the tissue samples for closer inspection. She spent hours leaning over the microscope and carefully documenting her findings before her stomach growled. She looked up and her old friend was walking in with a tea tray and cucumber sandwiches. "Your new patient is awake."

"Is she now?" Helen smiled her appreciation as he set the tray down.

"She is complaining that if someone doesn't pull her chest tube out she will." He grunted.

"Would you please clamp it off and tell her that if she doesn't have any problems in the next six to eight hours I will remove it. Also let her know that pulling it out herself will only result in her lung collapsing again." She gladly took a sip of tea that was sitting on the corner of the tray.

He snorted and pointed to the tray. "Eat."

Helen didn't let him see the smile grace her lips as he turned and left the lab. She much appreciated his kindness in looking after her, it was uncanny sometimes. Sitting, she ate slowly and finished the research that she had left. A few hours passed in the quiet of the room before her head popped back from the complexity of cell structures and chemicals. It seemed to her, from what she could remember, that the blood was slightly different than the Source Blood, though she did see a lot of similarities. She would have to check with her journals from Oxford to be certain, but she was sure that they would only confirm her conclusions.

After cleaning her workstation, she headed up to her office to make a few phone calls and see if Will had finished his paperwork. She found him passed out, sitting upright with his chin on his chest, a puddle of drool forming on his shirt, and he was leaning awkwardly against the arm of on her sofa. Smirking and shaking her head she sat at her desk and opened her laptop. She noted that Will had already entered the new abnormal into the system and that her work would only be to fill out what he could not.

She had just finished filling in the blanks Will had left when she heard the shuffling of feet in her doorway. She looked up to see her old friend with an expression of complete exasperation on his face. She nodded silently and stood quietly moving past the still sleeping Will and joined him in the hall. "I'll take care of her."

"Good because I'm ready to kick her out." He sniffed the air briefly. "She's worse than Kate when she arrived."

"What's your take on her?"

"She's annoying." He shrugged.

Helen pursed her lips together trying to suppress the smirk that so desperately wanted to plant itself there. She was fairly certain that had been the assessment of everyone the first time they met the odd woman. "I've got her if you can help Henry with the feedings? It would seem Will needs his rest."

"Sure."

Helen walked into the infirmary with a stern look on her face. She had been practicing it during the short elevator ride. She stepped around the corner and spoke before Jeci could. "I understand you've been giving my friend a hard time."

"Your friend could use a shower and a shave, like a whole body shave." Jeci's hand jerked up and around her face then over her body, reiterating the fact she really meant 'whole body'. Helen watched for a minute until Jeci broke out into a large grin. "You have a real live big foot working for you. Like really?"

Helen nodded. "He's my very good friend; we've known each other for years."

"Wow, I'd like to hear the story behind that." She added a sarcastic note to the words, but in all honesty she did want to hear the story.

"Maybe another time, right now I need to take a listen to your lungs." Helen pulled her stethoscope out of her pocket and slid her hand under the thin cloth of the patient gown Jeci was wearing. She pressed the cold bell against her chest and spoke softly. "Breathe." She watched the rise and fall of Jeci's chest as she listened for any decreased lung sounds. She pulled back. "Sounds good. Are you having any problems breathing?"

"No." Jeci answered quickly, she was ready to get rid of the thing so she could move around easier. She was not used to being still for so long and it was seriously starting to wear on her nerves.

"Alright, let me grab some supplies and I'll pull it out. Then I want to do a chest x-ray just to check everything."

"And then I can go home?" Jeci watched as Helen gathered the supplies she would need.

"I don't normally pull a chest tube out and then send someone home right away. Twenty-four hours, any sooner and you could dislodge the dressing before the hole has repaired itself and re-collapse your lung." Helen pulled on a pair of gloves and readied the Vaseline impregnated gauze she would use to make an airtight seal at the site when she pulled the tube out. Once she snipped the sutures freeing the tube she held the gauze in place and slipped the tube out. Making sure that everything was securely in place, and double checking, she smiled. "There, all done."

"Good. Now can I hear about Big Foot?" Jeci's eyes were wide and smiling as she waited to be placated.

Helen slid her gloves off and took the tray she had been using, setting it down on the counter. "Maybe later. I need to get that x-ray of your chest."

Jeci nodded as Helen pulled a wheelchair over. "Is that really necessary?"

"For the moment it is." Helen pinned her with a stare daring her to argue the point.

"Fine." She moved gingerly from the bed to the proffered chair and let Helen wheel her to the x-ray room. When she was done Helen left her there alone while she processed the film. She carefully wheeled herself back to the main infirmary and was lying in the bed when Helen returned.

"Everything looked normal considering." Helen had the films in her hand.

"Considering?" Jeci cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean considering?"

"You did collapse your lung, and there is still a little bit of fluid in the lung cavity that should be absorbed by the body in the next few days to weeks. But if you have any problems: shortness of breath, difficulty breathing of any kind, I need you to let me know immediately." She waited for her words to sink in and for Jeci to nod her understanding. "Now is there anything you'd prefer for dinner? It's Will's turn to cook, but I have a feeling it's going to be take-out. If you make a suggestion, I can be sure that it arrives."

"Chinese." Helen pulled a face. "What's wrong with Chinese?"

"Nothing is wrong with Chinese." Helen shrugged noncommittally. "Have you been to China?"

"Point taken." Jeci sat up slowly being sure to be careful of the bandage on her side as well as her broken ribs. "Do I have to eat it here?"

Helen looked her over for a minute watching how carefully and slowly she moved. "Do you need something for pain?"

"You didn't answer my question." Jeci pinned her down with her gaze.

"And you are avoiding mine." Helen replied pointedly.

Giving in quickly, realizing she probably wasn't going to get around to answering the question, she spouted, "I'm fine, just stiff and a little sore."

"A 'little sore'? You've broken several ribs; I believe you are going to be more than a 'little sore' for a while." Helen's brow was raised and she was not budging from her observation. If Jeci needed pain medication she was going to find out and give it to her.

"I can handle it, it's not like I haven't been in pain before. So, can I get out of this room?" She looked around and scrunched her face, trying to change the subject. "It reminds me too much of a hospital."

"Yes, let me see if I can find something a little more comfortable for you to wear and I'll take you up to the guest quarters. I do need to request that you stay on that level unless you are accompanied by one of my staff."

"Why? Do you have something scarier than Bigfoot roaming the halls?"

Helen's eyes looked at her sharply before softening into a smile. She leaned in close to Jeci's ear and whispered saucily. "Well what would happen if you found my dungeon of sharp instruments?"

"Pretty sure I found it already." Jeci grinned. "Clothes?"

"Right." Helen bit her lip and moved out the door only to come back a few moments later with a pair of jeans and a tight fitting shirt. "This is all we really have for now." She held them up, "I'm fairly certain they'll fit you." She stopped for a moment fingering the embroidered design on the pocket of the jeans. Jeci watched as a fleetingly sad look passed over Helen's face before she turned back to the young woman sitting in the bed. "Would you like some help?"

"Yeah." Jeci wasn't sure what to do with the woman, but she could see the need to be useful. Pulling herself to sit and her legs over the edge she started tugging on her gown only to stop when Helen's skilled hands took over. The shirt fit her comfortably enough. There was a large face that was printed across it in black on the white background.

Jeci looked down at it before Helen helped her to stand and step into the pair of dark blue jeans. They fit her snuggly and she turned her body to look at her ass, just to be sure they fit right. Cringing slightly at the movement she turned back hoping that Helen didn't notice. "Here, I believe this is also meant to be with the ensemble." She was holding a belt with a fancy buckle that was filled with an engraved design. Jeci ran her fingers over it.

"This is beautiful, where'd you get it?"

Helen took a deep breath. She knew the question was coming, but still wasn't quite prepared to answer it. Preparing a brief answer, she released the air and the words into the vastness of the room. "It was my daughters."

She reached out, grabbed Helen's wrist lightly and waited until her eyes met hers again. "Thank you, I'll make sure you get them back in the same condition."

Helen shook her head. "They're yours now; I don't need them back."

"Are you sure?" She watched the sadness dissipate before letting go of Helen's arm, suddenly missing the contact.

"Yes, now shall we find you a more suitable habitat for your stay here?"

"My brief stay." Jeci reminded. "I'm going home tomorrow."

"We'll see how you are feeling." Helen led the way to the elevator.

"Are you sure this thing isn't going to break on us?" Jeci looked around the metal box they were in as the doors closed.

There was a sweet and knowing smile gracing Helen's face. "It's rather reliable."

"And old." Jeci leaned gently against the cold wall letting the coolness bleed through her shirt into her back. She was casual in her stance but really she needed to get her weight off her knee.

"This is your floor." Helen held her arm out allowing the curly haired woman to exit before she did. Helen blushed ever so lightly when she found her eyes traveling the expanse of Jeci's backside admiring the way the embroidery on the pockets fit against her skin. "Unless you have a preference I'll put you here, close to the elevator."

"Whatever is fine with me." Jeci stepped into the moderately furnished room and nodded with approval.

"Right, there is a small library on this floor at the end of the hallway. Just a few classic books, if you'd like to take one, feel free. There's an intercom here." Helen moved over and showed her the phone. "If you press it my old friend or I will hear. If you dial 'one' you'll reach my office." Smiling she went back to the door. "I'll have Will get started on dinner and send him to fetch you when it's arrived, alright?"

"Sounds like a plan." Jeci was shifting all her weight on one foot and managing to keep her balance so it looked like she was standing on both legs evenly. "Do I still get Chinese?"

"Yes, you can have your Chinese." Her blue eyes were twinkling.

Jeci grinned back. "Awesome. Um… is there a tablet or a laptop or something I can use? I need to check my email. You know, let my mom know that I'm back in the country and fine."

"Yeah, I'll send Henry up with one."

"Cool." There was an awkward second that passed as Helen left the room and Jeci watched the sway of her hips. It was something she had done each time that the woman left her vicinity and she had to say she quite liked it.

Helen made her way down to Henry's lab and saw the HAP sitting at his mass of equipment playing World of Warcraft. "Henry."

He hit the panic button and the screen closed, "Oh, heya, Doc."

She ignored his guilty look knowing that he knew he had been caught, but not really faulting him. He did have some free time that evening after all. "I need a tablet for our guest Jeci, think you can find one?"

"Yup." He reached over and held up the equipment.

"Right, now I want to be able to trace everything that she does on that. Think you can do that for me?"

"Anything for you doc, you know that."

After he finished making the necessary adjustments he ran the tablet up to Jeci's room. She was sitting on the bed propped up on a bunch of pillows with the door ajar. "Hey."

"Hey." She echoed. "Come on in."

"I uh, brought you that tablet you wanted." He held it up and waved it in the air before handing it off to her.

"Thanks." She looked at it for a second and then back up to his blue eyes. "Do you know if Will has ordered dinner yet, I'm kind of hungry?"

Henry grinned thinking she was kind of cute when she whined like that, not like she did after the whole spelunking gone wrong incident. "I think I heard him on the phone when I walked by."

"Chinese?" She asked hopefully.

"No, I'm pretty sure he was speaking English." He grinned even more.

She snorted and winced lightly at the movement. "Funny." Rolling her eyes she rested back against the pillows again.

"You know, if it hurts that much you should let the Doc give you something." He was standing awkwardly at the foot of her bed bouncing on the balls of his foot. Sick people weren't his thing. And really, if he were honest, sick women weren't his thing, but Magnus would scowl at him if he ever said something like that. "She's not going to think any less of you."

"I'll think less of me." She ground it out before letting out the breath. "The medicines make my head fuzzy, I don't like it."

"Ah. Gotcha." Henry's eyes slid to the doorway as he begged for an exit. "Well, I'll go see if dinner is here."

"Chinese right?"

"Yes, Will ordered Chinese." Shaking his head he stepped out of the room.

As soon as she heard the doors to the elevator shut, she turned the tablet on and quickly made her way to the website her email account was associated with. She saw there was a draft saved in the folder as soon as the page was pulled up on the screen, but she wasn't sure if it was still hers waiting to be read or an actual response. She listened for a minute to be sure that she was indeed alone, her finger hovering in anticipation above the drafts link. She took a shallow breath and held it as she tapped it. Sure enough there was a newly drafted email saved for her to read. She smiled and let the air out of her lungs as her eyes slid over the document quickly absorbing the information. She had just finished when the elevator stopped on her floor. She was glad Helen had put her so close that way no one could sneak up on her. She closed the email and pulled up a game of minesweeper pretending to be immersed. Without looking up she spoke. "Did you get my Chinese?"

"No, but I did get you some food. Chinese are far harder to come by; the travel time means it would be at least a day before I could get you some." The familiar and chipper face was pushing in through the crack in the door. "Am I allowed in?"

"Yeah." Jeci set the tablet on the nightstand and slowly moved to sit up. "Is dinner really here, because I'm seriously starving?"

"Well Magnus will be happy that you have an appetite, and yes dinner is really here and yes it really is Chinese food." He held out his hand as he watched her struggle the last bit of the way off the bed. She gladly gripped it and pulled herself up to stand in front of him. "Send your mom an email?"

She gave him a puzzled look and was slow to answer, the first word coming off with a diphthong. "Yeah? How did you know I was going to do that?"

"Nothing is much of a secret around here. You'll learn that quick." He gave her a cocky grin and then held her arm in his as they walked to the elevator. "Not big on books?"

"Not really… I had to read too many of them in school. But sometimes they hit the right spot." They were walking slowly and Jeci didn't realize how much weight she was putting on him until they were resting in the ancient elevator. Standing up straighter she glanced over at his profile. "How are you feeling? Head bump better?"

"Oh yeah, much. Thanks though. You?"

"Couldn't be better." Giving a wan smile, he saw the pain she was feeling slip through even if she didn't realize it.

"Uh huh." Will was staring at the doors of the elevator before him noting that there was a dent in the lower corner of the left door from one of the emergencies they had recently had. He made a note to himself to have the Big Guy knock it out when there was time.

"So, um… what do you do around here?" She was being timid because she already knew, but it would be expected that she ask.

Will let out a heavy breath. "A lot of things, but basically I'm the resident psychologist and second to none other than Magnus."

"Like being on bottom then?" The sexual innuendo slipped out before she could stop it and she cringed, biting her tongue while she waited for a short reply or a dismissal from him.

"Bottom's the best," He leaned in closer, his lips next to her ear so that he was sure she understood him. "Get to see everything as it happens." He was chuckling as they walked out of the elevator and down the hall towards the dining area as her blush receded into her hairline. Play with matches and get fire, she reminded herself.

"I see you found your way." Helen looked up as Jeci walked in behind Will. She was just sitting down with the table set and overflowing with food.

When Jeci looked at the set-up before her, she couldn't see more than an inch of table cloth underneath all the goodies. "I had a little help." She glanced at Will and then Henry and Bigfoot before her eyes settled back on Helen.

"The Sanctuary can be a maze; it's easy to get lost in here." Helen offered.

"I got lost for a whole week once." Bigfoot piled lo mein onto his plate.

"Really?" Jeci nodded and asked even though she didn't believe a word of it.

"Really." He looked at her with an unspoken threat in his eyes letting her know that she'd better not stray from the areas Helen had told her she could go in.

Jeci looked away and moved to one of the open seats, there were only two and her choices were to either sit on Helen's right or her left. "You don't bite, do you?"

"Only when I'm really hungry." Helen grinned, her eyes crinkling at the corners betraying a bit of age. She indicated the chair opposite where Jeci was about to sit. "Kate normally sits there."

"Kate?" She remembered to act like she didn't have a clue.

"She's one of my employees; she's out on a mission of the up most importance tonight, so feel free." Helen held out the box of fried rice to Jeci, her fingers brushing the other woman's as she handed it off.

"Ah, I see." She dumped a healthy portion of the rice on her plate and passed it to Henry.

"Did you tell your mum about your fall?" Helen asked after all the food had been passed and doled out jarring Jeci back into reality.

"My uh, mom–oh yeah." She shook her head. "Are you crazy? She'd be out here in a heartbeat if I told her about that, with her duct tape and bubble wrap. No one wants to see that, it's frightening. I just told her I was doing great minus the depressing job I have." She laid it on thick letting Helen know how much she disliked her current job, even if it was a means to pay the rent while she worked on bigger and better things. "She worries too much."

"She's your mother; she has a right to worry."

"Yeah, but she doesn't have to remind me about it every time we talk. Hence, why I try to keep the talking to a minimum and email only." Jeci shoved a potsticker in her mouth and chewed.

Helen followed a similar suit, only far more gracefully and watched the woman. "But you did tell her you returned, yes?"

"Uh huh."

Will decided to save Jeci from further interrogation and took his fork, since he refused chopsticks as they made him look like a dork, and pointed it at Helen and then at Jeci, keeping his eyes locked with his boss. "This one here, Magnus, she's a flirtatious one. You better watch out."

"Oh?" Her brow rose, but she made no other move before she took another bite of her meal while waiting for the explanation. Jeci's eyes floated up to Will's face and she glared as he smirked.

"Oh yeah, she's a quick one."

"We'll have to test that theory, won't we?" Helen chewed thoughtfully and let her eyes trail over Jeci's form—or at least what she could see of Jeci's form—appreciatively, not letting her gaze fall when the woman squirmed uneasily. "Will she be a good challenger to add into our games?" Helen winked and turned back to Will.

"I don't know. We'll have to test her out first."

Jeci blushed appropriately and glanced over at Bigfoot who watched her with interest. She really hadn't meant to flirt with the boys, not that they weren't cute in their own way but they just weren't her type. Will was too nose in the books for her taste, not to mention whiny, and Henry was just a big geek, albeit an adorable one. They were more the type of people she would hang out with, but Helen on the other hand; Helen was a completely different story. She could still feel her blue eyes roving over her body and it made her blush even deeper.

"I think we've embarrassed our guest enough for one night." Helen looked to Henry. "If you can help me with what I requested earlier, that would be excellent."

"Sure thing Doc." He stood as Biggie started to clear the table indicating their meal was finished.


	5. Chapter 5

Henry was speaking, but Helen was only half listening. She knew exactly what he was saying, he was giving her a quick update on his regular goings-on and if there was something very serious by that point, he would have mentioned it already. So she half-listened while working on her other duties like planning for the conference call that was happening later in the day. That was until he mentioned Jeci. Her eyes sharply turned to him and she watched carefully as he explained.

"So I didn't really find anything."

"What do you mean?"

Henry took a deep breath and let the words fall from his tongue. "Well here's the thing, so she asked for the tablet to send an email to her mom. But she didn't send any emails because the firewall would have caught it. Unless she found a way around my firewalls, but I doubt that."

Magnus reiterated what he was saying, simply, just to clarify what he meant. "So she didn't send a message, of any sort?"

"Correct." Henry pointed a finger at her and then dropped it to his side as the momentum from the statement faded and he started to feel slightly disappointed with himself. He should have done better.

Helen hummed, "That's odd. Did she do anything else?"

"Well… yeah… well… I really don't know Doc. I didn't have time to look." He let out a sigh waiting for the lecture.

"Then find out."

"Fine." He turned to head out of her office as he mumbled, "But these things take time."

Helen wrinkled an eyebrow at his back before grinning; he had been mumbling things like that since he was a kid. She turned back to her own reconnaissance on Jeci doing her best to find out anything and everything she could, which was proving to be a bit more difficult than she had anticipated. She started off with whether she was really who she said she was, followed by her education and work history. It was something she usually put in Henry's hands, but he was busy enough with trying to find out exactly why it was that Jeci needed access to her email if it wasn't to email her dear mother who must be worried sick. She caught movement outside her office and saw the sandy blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. Without looking away from the screen she called his name. "Will?"

"Um—yeah?" He took a couple steps back so he was standing in the doorway staring at her with his normal bewildered expression.

"Have you had any time to talk with Jeci?" Helen lifted her eyes to him. "I mean really talk, not just the surface stuff she's been putting out there."

He shook his head. "Why?"

"There are some things that don't seem to add up with her, I was hoping you would be able to help figure them out." Her head tilted slightly from side to side as she basically recapped his job description to him.

"What do you mean?" He threw his hands into his pockets and stepped into the room moving to the front of her desk captivated by her words.

Helen watched him and gaged his movements. "It's nothing that I can pinpoint right now, but I want you to talk with her. Find out why she's really here or at least a better explanation than she the one she's already given us."

"Yeah got it boss." He stepped out of the study and headed for Jeci's room. She was still supposed to be cooped up there and when he knocked on the door he was surprised to find she wasn't in the vicinity. Furrowing his brow he made for the end of the hallway to the small library that Magnus kept for guests. Again she was nowhere to be found. Pulling out his radio that was always present, he depressed the button. "Henry, I lost the chick, can you find her on the cameras?"

"Dude. You lost her? Magnus is going to kill you."

Will rolled his eyes at the statement but he heard the tell-tale signs that Henry was looking for her. "I didn't lose her… she just… didn't stay put." Will growled and turned on his heel back towards the elevator. "Find her?"

"Do you know how many cameras there are in this place? No, Will, I haven't found her. Can you give me more than five seconds?"

"Jeeze, what's up your butt?" He was tapping his foot as he waited for the elevator to rise. Magnus really was going to kill him for this one, or at least box his ears. Yet, he was beginning to wonder when or how he became the chick's babysitter.

Henry sighed before answering. "Nothing, just… it's nothing."

"Didn't get a 'well done, Henry'?" Will chided.

Henry didn't answer the man until he had gone through every camera on that floor and he saw her leaving several minutes before through the staircase at the far end of the corridor. "Um… so she walked out."

"She what?"

"She walked out, the stairs."

Will flipped the radio back into his pocket and ran down the hall to the stairs ignoring the elevator doors that finally opened. He found Jeci sitting two floors down, breathing heavily, her face pale with sweat beading on her brow.

"Ahem." Will cleared his throat rather loudly causing her to glare back at him. "Get lost?"

"I…" She coughed harshly splinting her ribs as an afterthought when the pain wracked through her chest. "I thought I'd…" He waited as she tried to catch her breath. "Explore."

"Uh huh, and didn't Dr. Magnus ask you to stay put?" He moved down the stairs past her to the landing so they would be on a more even keel.

"Details." She grumbled and held her hand out for him to help her stand. When he didn't oblige she reached for the railing and started to pull herself up. Jeci managed to lift herself a few inches before the pain cramped in her chest causing her to fall back.

Will lifted the radio to his lips. "Magnus, I need you in the South stairwell between the third and fourth floors."

"What is it Will?" Her sharp reply crackled in the hand unit.

"Jeci." He stared at the girl as he gave his short reply, his eyes roving over her body with his brows raised as he tried to indicate to her his disappointment. She was still pale and sweaty and he hoped it was just from the exertion.

"I'm on my way."

He bent down again so that he could stare at her. Turning his head to the side he watched her carefully, eyes narrowing. It was time for them to talk, as Magnus had put it. "Care to try again as to why you're down here?"

"Really, just exploring." She coughed and leaned her head against the wall enjoying the cool sensation of it against her hot cheek. "I don't do well staying in one place for long."

Will listened to her cough and winced. He was sure she was in quite a bit of pain, not only from the coughing which sounded horrendous, but from the broken ribs that she kept forgetting about every time her lungs protested. "You're going to have to try a bit better with Magnus." Jeci shook her head and continued to cough until Will felt sorry for her. Rubbing a hand on her back he waited until she was breathing evenly. "Why don't you do well in one place for long?" He changed tactics.

"Think too much."

He was quick with a reply, hoping that conversation rather than interrogation would sprout off his comment. "You could always try a book."

Jeci shrugged. "Or porn."

The blush that hit Will's cheeks was actually quite satisfying to the woman. She'd seen him flirt with Magnus and knew that she could hold her own against him, so she was glad that she'd caught him so off-guard. "Yeah, or that." He paused before trying to continue with the conversation. "So what were you planning on doing?"

"Going home." She pouted and drew her shoulders in so that she would look resigned to telling him the truth.

He nodded just as he heard the door on the level below open and stiletto heels echo over the stairs ahead of their owner. He turned just in time to see Helen scowl and was very glad her anger wasn't aimed toward him. "And just where did you think you were going?"

Jeci raised her honey crystalline eyes to Helen, widening them in innocence. "Home?"

"You are hardly any shape to be taking care of yourself, and if you keep pushing it I may have to insist you stay even longer." Helen's look softened slightly and she bent down in front of her. "You need to rest, this—" She waved her hand over Jeci and the stairs. "Just goes to prove that fact."

Jeci nodded realizing there was nothing she could say to make Helen change her mind. Still it didn't stop her from whining. "But I'm bored."

"There is an entire library at your disposal." Helen pointed out.

"I don't read, and there isn't a TV in my room or the library." She thought for a second. "And if you'll remember my phone was obliterated in South America when I landed on it because you scared the bats."

When she complained like that Will found it difficult to feel any sympathy for her and he was fairly sure that Magnus felt the same way. "And what are you planning on doing with your phone? Do you need to call your long-lost boyfriend who would be oh so terribly worried about not hearing that you are safe and sound and back in Old City? Hmmm?" Helen rolled her eyes as the words slipped off her tongue. She hadn't meant it to sound jealous; rather, she'd meant it to sound petty. "If you want a phone, I'll have Henry bring one up for you. You need to be resting not running about like Indiana Jones. I will be bringing you pain medication that you will be taking." Jeci nodded her eyes not reaching up to Helen's. "Will, would you help me get her down the stairs?"

He nodded and they both lifted her carefully just under the arm pits until the woman was standing. Each wrapped an arm around Jeci's waist and they cautiously took each step, Jeci rolling her eyes and gritting her teeth to keep from saying anything stupid. It took a bit before they made it to the closest level which happened to be where Helen's office was located. "Will would you mind running to the infirmary for me?"

"Nah, what do you want me to get?"

"Codeine should be fine, thank you." He left them alone and Helen helped Jeci to her office where she seated her on the yellow sofa.

"I'm fine, really." Jeci watched as Helen's anger melted into concern over her injuries.

"Yes, I believe you are, but I want to be sure." She walked over to her desk and pulled out a stethoscope she had tucked away in a drawer.

"This really isn't necessary." Jeci protested as she watched Helen's sculpted legs step around her desk.

"Oh, but I believe it is." Helen grinned as her voice slid from her lips in a soft purr. She placed the stethoscope in her ears and carefully listened to Jeci's lungs being sure to check each quadrant for any decrease in breath sounds or abnormal lung sounds. When she was satisfied she stepped back laying the instrument on the cherry coffee table. "I think you just overdid it on your attempted outing, and I'll have no more of that, am I understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Jeci mumbled as she stared at the empty fireplace.

Helen was smiling at the young woman. "No need to break out the formalities."

Her comment caused Jeci's eyes to glance back and she saw the grin. It instinctively caused her own to form. "Then what should I call you? Because, honestly, you have a lot of names around here." At Helen's raised brow Jeci realized her mistake. "No, not bad names, just a lot of names, like everyone calls you something different." She was shaking her head, the flush creeping from her chest to her cheeks. "Not… I should just stop talking now." Jeci clamped her mouth shut and looked up hoping the woman wouldn't yell.

"I understand." Magnus' eyes closed briefly and she nodded her head. "You can call me whatever you are most comfortable with."

"Helen?"

The woman's mouth opened and closed before a quick smile graced her lips. "If that's what you are most comfortable with, then so be it."

Jeci smiled and then smirked. "It's a beautiful name." Her head turned to the side and she started to blush again. She really needed to learn how to keep her mouth shut sometimes.

"Thank you, Jeci, that is very kind." Her hand was pressed high onto Jeci's thigh, the warmth from her skin seeping through the denim, and she was giving her a brilliant smile. She looked up as Will entered the office, his shuffle of shoes giving him away. "Ah, thank you." She took the proffered pills as he poured a glass of water. Helen made sure that Jeci took them before she helped the woman to stand. She dismissed her and Will as she grabbed for the stethoscope she left on the coffee table and moved to put it back in its proper place in her desk.

Jeci was slowly making her way from Helen's office; her knee bothering her more than she wanted to let on. Helen tried to call her back but she ignored the sound and headed for her room. The harsh cadence of her heels against the floor should have been a hint. Jeci was pressed sharply into the wall, her back hitting it and her ribs and leg protesting. Wincing she saw Helen's face very close to hers, the woman put a hand on her hip and a hand on her waist, effectively keeping her in place and blocking her in. Helen moved in closer until her breath brushed Jeci's cheek.

Moving lips next to the woman's ear she breathed hotly letting the heat from her body which was pressed tightly to Jeci's sink in. She let out a little moan and waited for Jeci's breathing to increase and her pulse to beat faster. Helen lowered her voice to be husky and quiet. It was nothing more than a whisper that could barely be heard. "I think I know why you are here."

Jeci swallowed hard, closing her eyes as the words washed over her. "And why is that?"

"Don't think I don't know anything about you, or why you are here or who you are working for. I have contacts you couldn't dream of." Helen turned her face down slightly, rubbing their cheeks together. "And don't pretend that I don't have methods of gleaning information from you, particularly if I find you are lying to me." She pressed in closer, her hips grinding gently before she took another long and deep breath. "I don't like it when people lie to me." If she hadn't been speaking the movement would have looked like a caress: soft, sweet, and gentle. Jeci knew otherwise.

"I'm not lying." Her own fists moved to Helen's hips.

"You're withholding information."

Jeci let out a light moan unintentionally when Helen's thumb brushed back and forth between her shirt and jeans, the movement so soft yet sending shocks of pleasure through her body. "I can't tell you." She pushed back as hard as she could, which wasn't easy considering she was still injured. Helen moved away and watched as Jeci limped down the hallway.

Jeci made it into her room and managed to get the door closed before leaning heavily on it and breathing deeply, the action reminded her none to nicely of her ribs. The pain medication was already starting to make her feel a bit loopy, but it hadn't taken the sting of Helen's words from her mind or the feel of her breath and body against hers. She'd like to have had that moment with her for a completely different reason, like leading to the removing of clothes. She moved to the bed looking for the tablet she'd left there only to find it was no longer under the pillow where she'd hidden it. She started to panic, had she remembered to sign out of the email account? What if one of Helen's goons had taken it and found out what she was really up to? Helen would have her heart on a silver platter for sure.

Breathing heavily Jeci pulled herself onto the bed and relaxed as her mind started to bend to the eager influences of the medication. She really should keep looking for the tablet, but she couldn't force herself up to search any longer. Taking the notepad and pen that was on the nightstand she put pen to paper writing a quick "I'm sorry," before drifting to sleep.

Henry stepped into his boss' office with a tablet between his fingers and his mind spinning wheels. "You have got to see this doc." He was interrupting her, but he knew she wouldn't care as soon as she saw what he held. She took the tablet and started to read over the emails that were in the draft folder, her mind working through the words as well as the conversation she was having on the phone attached to her ear.

Flicking her eyes up to Henry's she spoke rapidly into the phone, "Sorry Declan, I'm going to have to call you back, something's come up." She didn't wait for a reply before setting the phone down and reading through the emails again. "Well this is interesting."

"Yeah." He pointed to the folder. "And since they did it this way, we can't trace who the other person is."

"Not at all?"

"Nope, because the email isn't being sent from anywhere. So it really doesn't tell us anything." He was bouncing on his toes. "It also means you can't get mad at me for not tracing the email."

"Actually, I think it tells us quite a lot. Well done, Henry." Glancing up she gave him a nod of approval before reading, once again, the letters.


	6. Chapter 6

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore."

Helen looked up at the bubbling voice to see Henry leaning against the doorframe with a precious grin on his face. "I'm sorry?"

He pushed his shoulder off the jamb and stepped into her office with a wide smirk gracing his lips and a slight blush to his cheeks. "I called the vet's office like you asked. Turns out she does work there. The lady who answered the phone said she'd taken a two week leave of absence to head home to Kansas to visit her ailing mother."

"I'm beginning to think this girl never had a mother to begin with." Helen blew out a breath in exasperation.

"Everyone has a mother." The comment was given as an off-handed remark and wasn't meant to push any of Helen's buttons; however, the words gave her pause. Henry failed to notice as he flicked through multiple screens on his tablet.

She watched him without replying, her eyes scanning his body for any signs of distress before she glanced at the clock on the mantel. It was just after eight-thirty and the sun was already blazing through her open curtains. "Is she up yet?"

He shook his head. "I haven't seen any movement." It was as if he was speaking of an abnormal that they were waiting to wake from sedation, not a woman who was overly charming on occasion yet harsh and blunt on others as well as had a significant tendency to make random sexual comments.

"Did you do what I asked?"

"I did, if so much as a lady bug moves in that hallway I'll be alerted to it. Lots of… blaring alarms." He grinned. "I'm such a techno geek."

She mimicked his smile and chuckled softly. "Can you ask my friend to fix his special breakfast and bring it to me?"

Henry made a face before shutting down his tablet. "You're serious?"

"Yes, I'm going to wake our guest up in style." Something glinted in her eye that made Henry smile. He knew that look very well. "And please make sure Will doesn't forget that he's supposed to pick Kate up this afternoon. I have a feeling this is going to be a busy day."

"Sure thing, boss." He left the room and Helen to her own devices to do her bidding.

Sometime later, Helen knocked on the door to the guest room and waited for a still sleepy 'come in' to be mumbled before she entered. Jeci was resettling herself on the pillows and trying unsuccessfully to tame the unruly curls on her head. She was pressing flat and sweaty palms at the top of her head and smoothing them down, eventually she gave up and glanced at the woman with the tray. "Good morning sleepy head."

"Sleepy head? What time is it?" She looked over at the old fashioned alarm clock with antiqued face on the nightstand in a vain attempt to answer her own question.

Helen answered gaily, her voice loud and bright in the quiet dismal mood of the room. "Nine-thirty."

"Too early to be so damn chipper." Jeci mumbled noticing the tray Helen was carrying complete with covered plate and two glasses, one filled with water and the other with a purple liquid she assumed was juice. "You made me breakfast?"

"My old friend did." Helen smiled slightly trying to contain the grin and set the tray on the night stand.

"The big hairy guy?" She made a face as the aroma started to seep from under the silver dome and infiltrate her nostrils. It was not pleasant and made her stomach protest loudly, she was sure that Helen could hear it. "I'm not really hungry… don't eat breakfast often." She added in the last part to try and sound more convincing.

"After he went through all the trouble of preparing it?" Helen pulled the lid off making sure to send all the odors trapped beneath toward Jeci. "You should at least try to eat."

Jeci glanced at the plate, her nose scrunched in what Helen was sure to be a permanent look on her face for hours. "Who eats fish and toast for breakfast?"

"Some people consider cod to be a delicacy, and extremely healthy." Helen smiled as Jeci turned several shades of green.

"Like I said," Jeci plucked the lid from Helen's hand and clanged it down on the plate. "I'm not very hungry."

"Very well." Helen pointed to the foot of the bed at the clothes she'd brought in. "You should probably get washed up and dressed we have things to do and places to be."

"We do?" Jeci eyed her disbelievingly.

"Yes, we do." Helen nodded and raised an eyebrow daring the young woman to challenge her. "You did want to go home today, right?"

"Um… right." Jeci smiled nervously, she wasn't exactly supposed to be going home so soon, her stomach started to flip like a fish out of water.

"Then get to it. The quicker you get dressed the faster I can do a chest x-ray and take you home." Helen didn't wait for Jeci to start moving; she left the room and the decision up to the woman. "I'll be in my study when you're finished."

Jeci fumbled with her keys hoping her apartment was up to standard for the great Helen Magnus to enter and not like she often left it, with dirty clothes strewn everywhere. She honestly couldn't remember how she'd left it. It seemed like months since she had last been there. Finding the correct key she slipped it into the dead bolt and turned her wrist with a loud click. She glanced back at Magnus who was looking down the hall as she twisted the knob in her hand and pushed the door inward. "Here we are, home sweet home." She walked in and let out a sigh of relief. By some small miracle she had cleaned the apartment before departing for South America. Not that she was dirty or lived in filth, she was more disorganized by nature and found better things to do with her time than put away clean clothes and get the dirty ones actually into her hamper. "You'll have to excuse the mess."

Helen stepped past her so she could close the door. She let her eyes sweep over the larger room that flowed right into the kitchen. There was an old tube TV sitting on a rickety cabinet, across from it was an old celery green couch boasting scratched up wooden legs, cerulean pillows on both ends, and a too short blonde veneer coffee table with random stains on it. Licking her lips Helen debated where to sit or if it was safer to just stand. While the couch was there she wasn't sure that she wanted to sit on it at all.

Taking a second look over what was in the room she noted a region that must have been deemed the dining area, since there was a pine table with four very miss-matched chairs set around it. On the table itself there were papers strewn about along with an old laptop computer that looked as if it would barely function to even type on. Yet, despite the age and condition of the furniture and belongings left about, everything looked clean except for the carpet which should have been replaced before Jeci moved in.

"Well now that you're home," Helen pulled a card out of her pocket with the number for the Sanctuary on it and, surprisingly, her cell scribbled across the back of it. "If you need anything..."

"I won't." Jeci said quickly cutting her off. There was an awkward moment where neither woman spoke and only stared at the other. Jeci fiddled with the card between her fingers sliding the edges against her skin. Finally, she broke the silence. "You don't have to rush off." Helen looked around again, judging her surroundings. Jeci gripped her wrist lightly, her fingers curling over the skin and surrounding the bone. There was a gentle warm sensation that filled Helen's chest as the woman spoke. "Have a seat, make yourself comfortable." Jeci nodded toward the couch.

Helen checked her watch after Jeci released her wrist; she had no intention of leaving right away, but had to put up a façade. "Thank you."

"Can I fix you something to drink? I have a lovely Earl Grey."

"Yes, that would be nice." Helen settled herself on the couch finding it far more comfortable then it looked.

"They don't make them like they use to… um… the couches." Jeci spoke as she moved into the kitchen area. It was modest, a few cabinets, a stove, and refrigerator with a linoleum floor that needed replacing before the carpeting.

"No they don't." Helen agreed as she watched the young woman limp. She knew Jeci was doing her best to hide it and Helen was just biding her time until she had an excuse to take her back to the Sanctuary with her. At least she was hoping that was how this was going to play out. If not, Henry had kept the password he was able to decode to Jeci's email account so they could continue to monitor for any activity.

Jeci knocked around in one cabinet until she pulled out a tea kettle which she filled with water and set on the electric stove. Then she dug in another cabinet and pulled out a thin box of instant tea and two mugs that clearly did not come from the same china pattern. Helen was watching her fervently and saw her knee give out. Jeci grabbed the counter to hold her body up and gasped. The tea kettle began to whistle and Helen waited thirty seconds before rising and walking up behind the curly-haired woman just as Jeci reached over and moved the kettle off the burner.

"Do you need help?" There was genuine concern in the British accent and Jeci tried to ignore it as her stomach tightened and she bolstered herself. She never wanted to admit to needing help and the proximity of the Brit was wreaking havoc on her nerves.

"They never eat the pizza." Jeci leaned heavily on the counter closing her eyes and letting the blush take over her cheeks.

"Excuse me?" Helen stepped in closer, her hand on Jeci's back as she leaned over and flipped the stove burner off.

Clarifying what she had not wanted to say, Jeci mumbled. "In porn movies they never eat the pizza." Turning her head and trying not to let the blush show, she abruptly changed the subject. "Do I look like I need help?"

"It was just a simple offer." Helen shrugged and stepped back out of the woman's striking range. It seemed she had caged the wild animal and she wanted to give the mammal time to adjust to the moment.

"Do you take cream in your tea?" Once again she changed the subject as she reached for the instant tea bag and missed the look of disgust on Helen's face.

Making a quick and clipped point, Helen answered her query. "I would imagine any milk you have would be curdled at this point."

"I have canned milk." Jeci moved to take a step. "Ouch! Mother f—I'm fine." Helen caught her before she fell on the floor. She gasped. "Oh shit…"

"Sorry." Helen realized her arms were wrapped around her chest pressing against the fractured ribs and she helped her down to the floor. "I thought you said your knee was better."

Jeci stared off at the couch wishing that she were laying on it rather than the dirty linoleum that she had obviously forgotten to clean. "I thought it was." Helen was running her hands over Jeci's leg, feeling her knee and not paying attention when the woman reached for her wrist. "Think you can help me get to the couch." The warm sensation flowed to her chest again and Helen nodded before helping Jeci to rise carefully.

They took tedious steps, Jeci letting out bursts of air from between her lips when she felt the pain from her leg or her chest slice through her. She was not going to be happy until everything was healed. As soon as she was resting against the couch with her injured leg next to Magnus' thigh, she felt hands at the front of her pants. The woman had sat down partially on the sofa and was resting rather close to her body. Shaking her head Jeci reached for Magnus' fingers and gripped them tightly.

"What are you doing?"

"I need to check the injury."

"Bullshit you don't need to check my knee you were just running your hands all over it." Her golden eyes whipped to the blue ones and Helen glared back at her.

"I need to check the swelling. I cannot do that while you have your pants on." Steely eyes held their ground.

"Fine." Jeci threw Mangus' hands away from her body and unbuttoned the jeans yanking the zipper down. She slid the material down to her hips before doing her best to lift her body without jarring her leg or torso too much. Helen started to reach for the material but Jeci cut her off. "I've got it."

"I can see that." Helen shook her head. The last thing she needed was another headstrong woman in the Sanctuary no matter how temporary. She hoped it was temporary, didn't she? She shook her head: she had an objective and just because there were attractive qualities about Jeci didn't mean she needed to be side tracked by them. Use them to her advantage yes, but not let them work against her.

"Are you going to stare at my lacy panties all day or are we going to get it on?" Jeci blinked hard.

Helen's eyes jumped up to the other woman's in confusion. "What?"

Jeci ignored the heat kissing her cheeks. "I said are we going to get on with it? You know… my knee."

"Right." Helen looked down at her knee and ran her cool fingers over the warm skin listening as Jeci's breathing changed. She didn't need to ask her if she was in pain, she already knew the other woman would deny it. She pressed firmly in a few places and once she got her to jump a time or two she nodded slowly to herself. "You could have torn a meniscus. I want to take you back to the Sanctuary and run an MRI."

Jeci clenched her molars together and tried to let the steam from her ears go without giving off that she was angry. "Why didn't you do that before?"

"There was no need before. The fact that you're still in pain tells me that there might be another issue that has yet to be discovered." Helen sat back, but left her hand just high enough on Jeci's leg that she wasn't in contact with her knee. She didn't know why she kept touching the woman, but there was an inherent need to be physically connected to her.

Jeci licked her lips. "Fine, but does it have to be right now?"

"No." Helen shook her head and let the word out on a breath. "We still have our tea to drink." Standing, she made her way into the kitchen and came back with the two mugs of already steeped tea. She went to hand one to Jeci and realized that the woman might like to tug her pants back up. Setting the glasses on the already stained coffee table she started to help pull the denim up.

Leaning her back into the oddly colored pillow, Helen handed her the ceramic and let her sip gently. Jeci took a deep breath and rested her body before exhaling. "Thank you."

"I think that's the sincerest thing I have ever heard you say." Helen took her own drink dreading the taste of the instant tea. She was quite surprised when the flavors licked her tongue and she didn't feel like vomiting. When she looked up again, Jeci's sharp eyes were focused and narrowed on her face. "What?"

"I have to admit I was expecting it to taste like pond water with a nice layer of scum along the top." Helen gave her a sheepish expression before taking another sip.

"You think I would drink something that tasted like that?" Jeci laughed and rolled her eyes. "You Brits are all the same."

"You know others?" Helen's interest was piqued even though it could be anyone from across the pond.

"Just the ones from the tv." Jeci shrugged and smiled lightly remembering some of her favorites. "You know, PBS on Saturday night: _Waiting for God, Keeping up Appearances, Mr. Bean_?"

"I can't say I've ever watched PBS on a Saturday night." Helen thought back on it and shook her head, her eyes not connecting with the woman's as she closed them.

Jeci took another sip of her tea. "That's right you don't have TVs in the Sanctuary."

"There are plenty of televisions in the Sanctuary, we actually have an entire media room that Henry set up. I just find better uses for my time. Like reading a good book for instance."

"And torturing poor innocent girls." Jeci looked pointedly at her remembering exactly what Helen had done to her in the hallway. Had she been thinking better at the time and not so defensively, she might have actually tried something.

"I've hardly tortured you and I have the feeling you don't really fall into the innocent category."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jeci held her mug tightly between her fists and glared at the woman.

Helen licked her lips and chose her words carefully. "You haven't been fully honest with me. I know about the emails, or lack of emailing actually. You have been short and distant, you avoid answering direct questions and honestly I'm tired of it all." Helen leaned over setting her mug onto the coffee table until she could press closer to Jeci. Her hands were blocking her in, one against the back cushion and one nestled right under Jeci's hip. Sliding forward, her lips were almost pressing into the other woman's when she spoke. "When are you going to be honest with me?"

The tension was building in Jeci's chest and she was finding it difficult to breathe. "I… you…" She took a deep breath and her eyes flickered from Helen's face to her lips to her chest and back to her lips. "Um…" Hadn't she just been thinking about this? Whimpering Jeci gave in and slid her head forward to press her lips against Magnus' pink and damp ones. Helen drew in a breath, pausing but not moving. Her eyes opened and she was staring cross-eyed into golden ones. Taking the opportunity for what it was she pushed her body closer and pressed her mouth hard against Jeci's letting her tongue dip out and test the waters.

A thin hand pressed against Helen's cheek and neck bringing her ever closer as Jeci's tongue slipped against hers. Fisting a hand in the long locks at the back of Helen's head she held on as the embrace took her deeper and her mind became fuzzy. Helen's body tilted further towards hers and Jeci dropped the mug she was still holding and went to cup Helen's neck. The hot water spilled onto the woman's skirt and legs and Helen jumped back at the sudden pain that lashed through her.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Jeci mumbled her apology as she moved to get up and offer assistance.

"It's ok." Helen pulled the damp material away from her. It had been more of a shock than actual pain. The water wasn't hot enough to do any serious damage, but still she would be driving home in a cold wet skirt.

As if reading her mind Jeci spoke softly. "We can throw it in the dryer."

"I'm not going to parade around your apartment in my underwear." Helen blinked several times.

"I, uh have a throw on the foot of the bed you can wrap around you." Jeci pushed herself to the edge of the couch having stopped moving when Helen said it was ok. "I need to pack some things if I'm going back with you anyway."

Helen nodded. "You've decided to go back with me?"

"Well, I have crappy insurance—AKA no insurance—and you're doing this pro bono right?" Jeci stumbled to her feet and grinned at Helen. "I mean you did scare the bats and all, this is kind of all your fault."

"I did scare the bats." Helen sighed and followed the hobbling girl down the short hallway. Even Will wasn't going to let her live that one down—the bats had been entirely her fault.

Jeci bypassed the throw and pulled out a pair of loose sweats. "These might work better." Helen took them carefully and studied the logo that ran down the side. When Jeci caught her looking at it she smirked. "My brother went there."

"Ah." Helen answered before shaking them out. "What was his degree in?"

"He… uh… he didn't finish." Jeci didn't look at Helen and planted her face into her drawers where she was pulling out her own clothes.

Helen caught a slight motion in the way the woman's shoulders tensed. Closing her eyes she stepped over and pressed a hand to the curved back. "Why didn't he finish?" Helen licked her lips and waited.

"It doesn't matter."

"Jeci, you don't have to answer the question, but know that if you want to it won't go beyond this room."

The eyes that turned to her were filled to the brim with tears that had yet to spill over. "He died, in a car accident on his way home for a visit. Head on collision because he was too tired to be driving. He killed his girlfriend and the passenger of the other vehicle."

"I'm so sorry." Helen slipped her hand down Jeci's arm and wrapped their fingers together.

"Yeah… we all were." She shook off the hand and moved back to packing.

"Maybe I shouldn't, I mean they were his and I'm sure they mean a lot to you." Helen held them out for her to take back.

"You let me wear Ashley's clothes. Besides it's no big deal. It happened years ago and his hoodie means more to me." She canted her head toward the closet and Helen saw the sweatshirt pressed into the clothes that were lined up.

"Thank you." Helen didn't go back to the bathroom they'd passed, instead, she just stripped the skirt off there.

Jeci heard the tug of the zipper as Helen slid it down and lifted her eyes to the mirror that gave her a perfect view of Helen's hips and legs as she let the black material fall in a puddle on the floor at her feet. She stepped out of her stilettos and into the heather gray sweat pants with purple writing down the side. It really didn't go with her outfit, but at least it was dry. She looked up directly into the mirror locking eyes with Jeci's reflection. When she blushed lightly Helen smiled.

"The dryer is behind the bi-fold doors in the bathroom, or you can just wear those home or to the Sanctuary and clean it and everything there." Jeci turned to look at her letting her eyes travel briskly over her figure.

"The Sanctuary is my home." Helen's voice was soft and smoky; it made Jeci want to taste her lips again. "Are you done?"

Jeci shook her head. "I need to pack a few more things, toiletries and such. You can wait in the living room if you want." Helen took the cue and went out to wait for Jeci to finish. She would have Henry check her room for any two way communication devices or bugs once Jeci was settled again. It was only a minute later when the woman entered the living room, Helen was bent over cleaning the mess off the floor and Jeci smiled as her butt was aimed in the air. "You didn't have to do that."

"Well I wasn't about to let you." Finishing up, she stood and moved to the kitchen depositing the paper towels in the waste. Turning back she leaned against the counter and surveyed the woman. "How did you know my daughter's name?"

Jeci dropped the small bag she was holding to her feet and moved her lips as she struggled for a thought. Helen was quick; she had barely even noticed she'd mentioned the girl and not even her name. "Someone, uh… mentioned it to me." It wasn't a complete lie, but it certainly wasn't the truth.

She was just about to bend and pick up her bag to leave when the voice lilted over to her again. "Who, specifically, mentioned it?"

"I don't know." Jeci let out a frustrated sigh. "The alien who had sex with the human and created a Halfling that wants to terrorize the earth mentioned while it was torturing me for information on how the internet functions? Honestly Helen, I don't remember."

"Aliens don't exist." Helen pinned her with her gaze.

"Like I said I don't remember." Jeci grunted lightly. "Is it really that important?"

"It is actually." Helen stepped forward and Jeci stepped back, she wasn't about to let Helen trap her in a compromising position again.

Jeci waved her hand between them. "You really don't interrogate fairly, you know that right?"

"It's a simple question." Helen cocked her head to the side and studied Jeci's face before taking another step forward.

This time Jeci didn't step back but reached out and grabbed Helen's wrist lightly. Helen looked down at the contact feeling the tingling that moved through her in a gentle warming sensation. She lifted her eyes again to Jeci's and watched her eyes darken slightly. "If I could remember I would tell you. Honest."

"I'm not sure why, but I believe you." Helen breathed out sharply and Jeci let go.

"I'm really tired." Jeci glanced around them.

"You've done too much, let's get you back to the Sanctuary and you can rest for a while before I run those tests." Helen reached down and picked up Jeci's bag. Moving to the dining table she picked up her skirt that she'd hung on the back of a chair and headed for the door. "Shall we?"

"Absolutely." Releasing a breath that she hadn't known she was holding Jeci followed the woman out.


	7. Chapter 7

"Woah Doc, you look in the mirror this morning?" Kate greeted, she and Will arrived back at the Sanctuary only moments before.

"Very funny, Kate." Helen smiled briefly. "I had a little accident." She popped the trunk and looked back in at Jeci. "Do you need any help?"

"I'm fine." Jeci pushed her door open.

"Will, do you mind?" She nodded toward the passenger side.

"I thought you were taking her home." He complained quietly so that Jeci couldn't hear.

"I did, it seems she forgot to tell me her knee was still bothering her and I have reason to believe she's torn something. I want to get a MRI to check it out, but first she needs to rest." Helen pulled Jeci's bag out of the trunk and placed it on the concrete floor before pulling out her skirt and closing the trunk.

"Of course she does." He mumbled as Kate bent down and looked in the car waving at the other woman who looked to be about her age.

"So this is that Jeci woman?" She asked Helen quietly. "Will told me she crashed your party in South America."

"Crashed seems to be an apt description of what happened. However, the abnormal was eventually captured, sadly it died during the process, but the blood samples are proving to be very interesting." The two of them were walking ahead of Jeci and Will who had been left behind. Kate had her own pack hefted over her shoulder and Helen was diligently carrying Jeci's. "She needed medical attention and since it does seem to be my fault that the girl fell, I felt it only necessary that we take care of her."

Kate stopped and shook her head, her gray eyes zeroing in on her boss. "You have the hots for her."

"What?" Magnus furrowed her brow. "Don't be ridiculous." Helen tilted her chin up and made for the guest room that Jeci was occupying.

"Right." Kate smiled and jogged slightly to catch up. "Hots." She repeated when she caught up to her earning her a glare from Helen. "Just call 'em as I see 'em."

"You know you two might actually get along. She's stubborn just like you." Helen let her eyes travel over Kate checking her for any injuries she was hiding. "You need to get cleaned up and then report to my study, I'd like a briefing of your mission."

"Yeah, sure thing." Kate turned and almost walked into Jeci who was leaning on Will. "Hey, I'm Kate Freelander."

She nodded tiredly. "Jeci."

"Maybe we can uh, talk later." Kate offered and moved past her. "Maybe catch a horror flick." That was Kate's idea of how to judge the newcomer.

"Sure, I really haven't made any friends in Old City yet." Jeci watched her head off down the hall before swinging her eyes to Helen who had pulled back the clean linens for her to climb into.

"I'll leave you to rest and we'll do your MRI after dinner." Helen headed for the door.

Jeci watched the sway of her hips. "Am I confined to this floor still?"

Helen turned and let her eyes settle on her. "This floor and the stairs to my study without an escort. But if you want to go to the media room with Kate later you are allowed. This isn't a prison, Jeci."

"Sure seems like one sometimes." Mumbling, Jeci slipped onto the mattress letting out a hiss when she put too much weight on her leg.

Helen moved quickly to her side and helped her in. "I can give you something for the pain." Jeci shook her head. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Coughing lightly she rested back against the pillow that Helen set behind her.

"Well then, I'll see you in a bit." Helen cocked her head to the side, her blue eyes twinkling while Jeci stared at her curiously. Without warning Helen bent down and pressed her lips quickly and expertly to Jeci's. "Thank you for the kiss earlier. That was very nice."

"Right… you're uh… welcome." The woman was already leaving the room and Jeci was left with her mind spinning circles about Helen's last statement.

There was something beyond the intriguing personality that attracted Helen to Jeci, and as easy as it would be to play games with Jeci to get the information she wanted, there was something stopping her. She'd felt it all the way back in South America and had tried to brush it off, but there was something there. Shaking off the feeling again, she looked at the skirt in her hand, she needed to treat it and drop it in the laundry then change into something a little more matched and professional before meeting with Kate in her study.

"You like her." Kate mocked her with a sing-song voice as she walked into the study to find Helen sitting on the yellow sofa waiting for her.

"I would like for you to spend some time with her."

"You want me to see what kind of info I can get?" Kate sat down opposite Helen when she gestured with her hand. Helen nodded. "You mean threatening to shoot her in the foot didn't get her to talk?"

Helen grinned lightly. "I've changed my tactics some since then. Oh and don't forget you're in charge of dinner tonight."

"I never get a day off, do I?"

"If I recall, you finished your mission in Fuji two days ago; I don't want to hear any complaints Beach Bum." Helen grinned.

"So… will you be joining us for the movie?" Kate was rocking back and forth with a silly grin on her face. "Because you know… that could be construed as a date."

Taking a deep breath Helen closed her eyes. "I might stop by towards the end of it. I have some actual work to do."

"Alright." Kate slapped her hands on her legs and stood to sashay out of the office. "You have the hots for her." Kate was grinning and Helen shook her head as the Indian left the room.

Helen waited a few hours before she went to retrieve Jeci, who had yet to appear from her room, for her MRI. The woman was still sleeping and she shook her awake. "I have time now, if you're ready."

"Ready for what?" Jeci was brushing her closed fists over her sleep addled eyes and tried to take a deep breath.

Humming Helen pulled the blanket from Jeci's body. "To take a look at your knee." She held out some shorts. "Would you like help or to do it on your own?" Jeci turned her head, giving the doctor a death glare before pulling the shorts from the woman's hand.

"You didn't have to wake me up." She grumbled as she slipped the button free of her jeans.

"You've been asleep for three hours." Helen looked at the clock on the night stand.

"Yeah well, my body is healing." She stood up and without asking permission reached out and used Helen's shoulder to steady her as she shimmied out of her pants.

"Yes it is." Helen tried not to stare. "You'll need to lose the bra too."

"My bra?"

"MRI, no metal sorry." Helen grinned letting Jeci know she really wasn't sorry.

"Fine." Jeci stood there still using Helen for support with her jeans around her ankles and slipped her free hand behind her back and unclasped her bra. She let go long enough to slip it off without ever removing her shirt. Helen held her hand out so Jeci could bend down to slip the elastic waist shorts on. "They don't cover much do they?"

Helen shrugged with her brow. "They serve their purpose."

"Like letting you check out my lovely rear?"

Helen smiled. "It is such a lovely one."

"Please." Jeci rolled her eyes and they started from the room.

"You think I haven't noticed?" Helen walked her to the elevator.

"I dunno." She blushed lightly. "Not something I think about people looking at."

Helen smiled lightly before changing the subject and saving Jeci from any further embarrassment. "I've a few questions I need to ask before we can do the MRI." Helen waited for the doors to close and watched Jeci lean against the wall. "Have you ever had any surgeries where any metals or anything were put into your body?"

"No surgeries, no metal fragments in my eyes or body. I'm good to go." Jeci took a guarded breath.

"MRI before?"

"Had to go through the whole questionnaire before I could do my clinical rotation in that department." She moaned as the elevator jerked to a stop wrenching her knee in the process.

"Ah, of course." Helen held her arm out. "Shall we?"

The made their way into the MRI room and Helen helped her onto the narrow table. Jeci sat up suddenly as the woman began to walk away. "Wait." Taking the few steps back Helen watched as Jeci lifted her shirt and slipped her hands against her stomach. There was a twisting motion and she held her hand out, placing the stud into Helen's waiting fingers. "If you lose it, I will never speak to you again."

"Alright." Helen stepped back glancing down at the fourteen gage ring in her hand and smiling at the blue sapphires that winked back at her. She set the item down next to the computer monitor and started the scan. The door burst open and making her jump; Henry was looking frantically about with a stunner in hand. "What is it?"

"The Nubbins might have escaped when Kate went to feed them."

"What?" Her eyes grew large and her head quickly turned to Jeci who was still in the MRI. "They might have or they did?"

He grimaced. "They did."

"Call everyone to my lab, immediately." She started to walk out quickly before turning abruptly to lock and secure the door to the room Jeci was confined in. Hopefully that would keep everyone out. When Henry hadn't moved fast enough she issued a second command. "Now, Henry, I need everyone in my lab."

Helen was pacing with a vial in her hand; she'd already injected herself and was waiting for the rest of the team to join her. Henry was the first to walk in. "No dude, no needles. I don't do needles."

"Henry, you know the drill. Not only do you need the allergy medication I'm giving you, but this is the only way to keep certain effects of the Nubbins at bay. We've been researching this for months now; you need to be injected with the sex inhibiting pheromones."

"Did I tell you about the side effects I had from that the last time you tried it on me?" He stepped back.

"Do you remember what happened to my Sanctuary the last time the Nubbins escaped?" She stepped forward. "Drop you pants."

Henry grumbled as Will came in rubbing his head. "What happened to you?"

"Kate, she chased me into the MRI control room and started throwing crap at me." He looked at the syringe Helen pulled out of Henry's hip.

"You're next."

"Um, Magnus…"

"Don't argue with her dude, she will win." Henry buckled his belt.

"Hip Will, now." She waited impatiently. "Did you say the MRI control room?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Jeci is still in there and she left something in my care." She swallowed remembering what Jeci had told her about the piece of jewelry she'd handed her. "Where's Kate now?"

"Chasing around the furry little beasts with the Big Guy. Ouch!" He looked back at her. "Some warning next time."

"That's what you get for not coming here immediately."

"It's kind of hard to make it to the labs when Kate cuts you off and starts throwing everything that isn't nailed down at your head." He yanked his pants back to his waist.

"Fine." Helen handed him two syringes. "Find my old friend and inject him, and the same with Kate. Henry, you can help. And why was she throwing things at you?"

"Apparently she thinks it's foreplay… and you're going to go where, exactly?"

"I'm going to take care of Jeci before something else happens to injure her further." She stepped through the door and headed back to the MRI control room praying that the ring was still where she left it.

Will shrugged and started out to where Kate and Biggie had last been seen. He managed to stun three Nubbins before making it to the lab's exit. Turning quickly to Henry he looked at him with wide eyes. "Dude, turn the AC on."

"Now? It's cold."

"Henry, turn the AC on, and turn it on as low as it'll go." Will moved back to finding his lost colleagues.

The man grumbled but did as he was told using the tablet that was forever in his hands. Running quickly he caught up with Will who had picked up the three abnormals and put them into a temporary habitat that had a small door. Finishing that up, he grabbed his radio and waited for an answer from his counterparts.

Helen walked into the MRI control room and noticed that it was still running and so far Jeci was none the wiser to what was going on outside the small room. Before she could sigh in relief she looked down where she had left the ring her stomach flipped. It wasn't there. She looked around on the floor getting down on her hands and knees. She was going to kill Kate. Flipping papers and clip boards over that had been thrown askew on the floor she searched every inch of the floor coming up with no more than Nubbin droppings. She sighed as she heard the machine cut off. She stood up and brushed her hands and knees off before unlocking the door and entering with a syringe.

"Hey, you didn't say anything about needles." Jeci sat up eyeing the apparatus in Helen's half fisted hand.

"Dye." Helen shrugged. "It'll help us get a better image."

"I know you haven't read it already."

"I want to get both sets of images now." Helen wasn't lying, she had mixed Jeci's dose with the dye and was going to run the scan again.

"I don't like needles."

"I really need to get a good image of your knee." Helen ripped open an alcohol prep when Jeci gave in and held her arm out. She searched and quickly found a vein to inject her with and hoped that the inhibitor wouldn't cause problems being directly injected into the blood stream as opposed to intramuscularly. She hadn't had a chance to test it out. It really hadn't been high on her list since making it intramuscular lent itself to tranquilizer use much better than intravenous did.

She pulled the needle free and pressed a cotton ball to the skin. It didn't take long before Jeci was passed out in the machine. She had two hours before it would wear off. Locking the door behind her again, Helen picked up her radio. "Will, you better have good news for me."

"I had Henry turn the AC on, which is slowing them down. We've caught about half of them now."

"Good, keep working on it." Setting the radio down in the control room she took another sweep looking for the blue sapphires. Oh she was so in the shit house. Groaning, Helen stood and headed out to help the others.

Reaching the elevator she heard Henry call over the radio to her. "Hey Doc, we locked down all the upper wings and we know that there aren't any Nubbins up there. I got to say, putting the chips in them was a brilliant idea."

"Thank you Henry." She smirked. "How many are left to find?"

"Fifteen."

The door to the elevator opened and she stepped inside to see a Nubbin shimmer out of her sight. "Well done, Henry." Biting her lip, she pulled her weapon from its holster at her back and glanced to make sure there were tranqs in it. Aiming she fired and hit her target, the Nubbin morphed back into its visible form so that she could pick it up. "Fourteen, Henry."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll be down by the habitat, checking for injuries in the ones we've captured." She started to leave the elevator that she had been waiting for when she heard Henry's reply accompanied by a rather large sneeze. The poor man. Smiling she pressed onward and settled herself to do an intake of the Nubbins as they were brought to her. An hour and a half later they had all but one Nubbin secured in a new temporary habitat.

Will was standing over her looking at the fluff balls and remembering the last time the beasts had escaped. "No offence, but I'm glad the no sex juice worked."

"None taken, William." Her eyes crinkled and she glanced at her watch.

Crossing his arms over his chest Will rested against the glass. "Got somewhere to be, Magnus?"

"Yeah, actually. I sedated Jeci and I'm afraid she'll be waking soon." She was looking down at the paperwork in her hands and Will had to do a double take.

"You did what? Magnus! I can't believe—never mind I can, but you cannot go around drugging people without having a just cause." His shoulders were tense and his eyes wide.

"I had just cause." She took her gloves off and started back towards the infirmary. "She doesn't exactly know the full extent of what we do around here."

"Right, but for some reason, I don't think that's why you did it." He was following her.

Ignoring him she raised the radio to her lips. "Henry where is the last Nubbin?"

"I don't know doc. It must be one of the babies that didn't get chipped yet." Helen let out a deep breath and pushed open the door to the MRI room where Jeci was still lying on the bed. Her eyes locked onto the small Nubbin that was pressed into the crook of her arm and she smirked. Nodding her head to Will she watched as he shut the door.

"Found it Henry." She whispered it into the radio before turning the volume way down as to not disturb the patient or the abnormal. Heading carefully over to the sleeping woman, Helen reached out a hand and curled it around the Nubbin's back stroking it gently; definitely one of the younger ones. She gripped him carefully and settled him against her chest. "A cage, Will?" He nodded and moved out of the door, coming back with a small container. She set the baby Nubbin inside and locked the lid. "Right, I need x-rays of each Nubbin.

"What on earth for?" Will was whining. X-rays of each meant a lot more work for him.

Helen bit her lip and drew in a large quantity of air before speaking. "Jeci had a ring that she gave to me to hold onto that means quite a deal to her. No metal in the MRI. Anyway, I lost it."

"You… lost it." His head bobbed in disbelief. "That's why you sedated her isn't it? You were scared of her reaction."

"She made quite a threat if I lost it Will. I've looked everywhere around where I set it, the only conclusion is that one of these swallowed it thinking it was food. Start with this one." She pointed to it rather decisively.

"I can't believe you're scared of Jeci."

"I am not. I'd just rather not anger her or give her any more reason to fight with me. Now go. She's going to wake soon." As if on cue the woman began to mumble. Will left with Nubbin in tow and Magnus turned to her patient. "Hello, Jeci."

Jeci popped her eyes open and then stretched. "You drugged me."

"Afraid I had to in order to keep you still."

Licking her lips the woman turned onto her side before changing her mind and moving onto her back. "Bullshit."

"Excuse me."

"I'm calling bullshit. Help me up." She reached her hands out until Helen grabbed them and helped her to sit. Her legs were dangling off the side of the bed and she rested her head on Helen's shoulder while she tried to gain her bearings. "What'd the test say?"

"I haven't had time to read it."

Jeci let out a breath. "Why not?"

"Had a bit of an emergency." Helen was rubbing her back gently and watching as her people moved around outside carrying dark containers of Nubbins in to be x-rayed. "I'll look it over soon."

"Where's my ring?" Jeci pulled her head back as she started to feel she was able to function better. Helen shook her head and closed her eyes. Jeci furrowed her brow and laid her hand heavily on Helen's neck. The warm sensation didn't take the woman off guard as much as the repeated question. "Where's my ring?"

"I lost it. I believe one of my patients might have eaten it." Jeci sat back instantly her eyes glaring daggers and Helen was left shaking her head glad that she had used the word 'patients' rather than 'abnormals'. Jeci didn't say a word as she shoved Helen back away from her and moved to stand, wincing as her torso ached with the move. "I'm so sorry Jeci, it was unexpected. We're looking for it right now. I'll find it." The curly-haired woman took a deep breath and started to pad barefoot to the door.

Pulling at the handle she realized that it was locked. "Open it."

"Jeci, please, talk to me. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen." Helen was pleading, her eyes wide and innocent as she spoke.

Turning roughly, Jeci shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Open the door, Helen. Or I will break it."

Taking the threat seriously and being less afraid of the damage Jeci would do to the door and more afraid of what it would do to her, Helen moved to press in the key lock code. She pushed the door open and stopped Will as he moved by with another cage. "Will." She swallowed. "Will you please take Jeci back to her room?"

"Yeah. Sure." He took Jeci's arm as she swayed into him and handed the small cage to Magnus. "No problem." They walked slowly as Helen radioed ahead to stop all movement of the abnormals until Jeci was free from the floor.

Kate showed up next to her and looked bewildered. "What'd you do, boss?"

"Probably burned the only bridge I ever had with the woman." Sadly looking away she turned down the hall and started to finish what her protégé hadn't.


	8. Chapter 8

"Found it!" Henry called loudly from the room and Helen bit her lip.

"Good." She let out a breath, "Which one?"

"Which do you think?" His grin would have been contagious had Helen not felt the entire weight of the world pressing heavily on her chest.

"Would you please keep it separate from the others?" She snapped off her gloves and stalked out of the room to her office. She was absolutely done dealing with people for the day. She wished she could hide away in the library and bury herself in research, but the niggling feeling in her gut told her that something else was going to happen and her wish would not be granted.

Arriving in her study Helen stopped momentarily when she found Will seated at her desk waiting with a smirk on his face. "You are in the dog house."

Pursing her lips, Helen ignored the comment. "Would you care to explain how the Nubbins just happened to escape?" Sarcasm and false amusement slipped through her lips as she was sliding papers around on her desk, not glancing up at Will who was stoically silent. "Will?"

His name being uttered in that tone seemed to snap him out of it. "Oh yeah… right… It seems that somehow the environmental controls got hit and the habitat became a little warm and—uh the Nubbins were a little raunchy and Kate apparently looked like a Nubbin." He snorted as he finished the long sentence. "It's true, she is small like them; And randy like them. And a crazy little beast just like them."

"William."

"I'm just saying." He threw his hands up in the air in surrender.

"Was there a reason you were waiting for me or did you just want to harass me?" She stared at him.

"If it's not a good time," He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels as was his habit when wary of her temperament. "I'll come back later."

She sighed. "It's not a good time, but I honestly don't know that later will be any better. What is it?"

He let his eyes travel over her tired form. "You look like crap."

"Thank you William." She tightened her lips into a thin line and looked back over her desk. She was looking for Jeci's medical records which should be there. She wanted to look at something before pulling up her scans on the computer to review.

"Do you remember that intake from last week?"

"Which one? We had two." She didn't look up as she eyed the corner of the chart she'd been searching for. She reached for it snatching it between her thumb and forefinger and pulling victoriously.

"The…" He tried to remember its scientific name but knew he couldn't pronounce it. "Floppy, you know scales and the furry Mohawk running all the way down its spine."

She sighed, and rather than correct him she just nodded her head.

"He uh… he…"

She lifted her eyes to meet his; if he said he'd gotten out of his enclosure as well she was going to scream. "He what?"

"He might have… sprayed a bit."

"Well clean it up." She didn't look at him; rather, her eyes were glued to Jeci's medical file.

Will rolled his eyes. "I don't think you quite understand what I'm saying."

"Maybe it's because you haven't said anything." She was quick, to the point and annoyed. "Either speak, Will or get out of my study and clean it up."

"He's still doing it."

It was as if everything in the room stopped. Magnus slowly picked up her head to stare at him. "He's still doing what exactly?"

Will threw his hands up in an exasperated grown. "He's jizzing everywhere Magnus, and he isn't stopping."

"You. Infirmary. Now." She pointed to him and he left. Plucking up her radio she called to Henry. "Henry I need to you to tranquilize the _pilosus pennata simian_."

"The what?"

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she pressed the button once more and spoke clearly, "Floppy. And do it without complaint, I don't want to hear it." Slamming her radio onto the desk she stalked out of the room.

"Why'd I have to come down here?" He complained when Magnus came in behind him.

"Don't sit or touch anything. You need to strip in the decontamination shower now."

"You're kidding." He grinned and rolled his eyes. "All this because you're…"

She interrupted him. "All this because you got _pilosus pennata simian_ semen on you."

"I did not—how do you know?"

"Because you reek Will. And if you think the effects of the sex inhibiting pheromones I gave you will ruin your next date just wait to see what the effects of _pilosus _semen has."

"Fine." Will sulked off toward the decontamination area and Helen looked around the infirmary for the medication she would need to give him when he was done. She also needed to make sure Henry didn't get it on him and that they both wore Hazmat suits when they cleaned it up. Maybe she would let them off the hook and leave the mess to Kate who should be hung and quartered for letting the Nubbins out.

It wasn't Kate's fault, she knew this. Some things in the Sanctuary had been overlooked lately with trying to tighten the budget; clearly she would need to make allowances for repairing all the environmental and electrical systems that were beginning to age. Right now she just wanted some peace and quiet.

Sitting on an infirmary bed after injecting the abnormal with multiple medications to stop his problem, she drew in deep breath and let it out. This day wasn't going to end. She stood up and moved to wheel the abnormal out of the room when Kate strolled in. "Jeeze doc, you look awful."

"How kind," Helen sneered out the words. "Please take him to the SHU so that we can have constant surveillance. I need to monitor his condition."

"Really Doc?"

"Kate, you do not want to argue with me today. Please, just do as I ask." She felt like a mother with ten whiny and complaining children running amuck in her house. "Then please finish the feedings and find something to do. I'm sure there is something that needs to be done." Her phone was buzzing in her pocket and she was almost dreading answering it. Licking her lips she looked at the caller-id. Sliding the lock she answered, "Declan." Listening to the rapid fire speech she closed her eyes and pressed a thumb and forefinger to her forehead. "Kate will be there to receive the shipment." Helen hung up.

Kate was still standing there awkwardly staring at her.

Heaving a breath Helen flashed her baby blues on the woman and said, "You are going to take Floppy to his new environment. Then you are going to the docks. There is a shipment that Ernie has from Declan with some very angry _mollis lacertos_ that need to be immediately sedated and brought here." Helen put out a hand to stop Kate as she started to do as she was told. "This is very important Kate. Do not touch the _mollis lacertos_. No matter what. If they escape you need to call me immediately."

"Docile?"

Magnus' brows drew together. "Hardly."

"It's a joke… never mind. It's noted." She started to pull the bed out of the room with the very unconscious Mohawked man planted on it.

Helen slumped back into the chair behind her desk and sighed. Finally quiet, at least until Kate or Ernie failed with the shipment she was picking up. She dreaded that call. She looked down at the chart that was lying on the top of her desk. She doubted Henry had scanned her notes into the system yet. She flipped it open and glanced through them as she reached over and moused across the computer screen pulling up Jeci's MRI's. The second one was completely unneeded but at least now she knew the girl didn't have any osteoblastomas. She looked over the first one before closing the images and stood. She really didn't want to talk to Jeci right now, but putting it off wasn't going to make things between them any better.

She found Jeci sitting in her room staring out the window. "I need to talk to you." Helen paused hoping beyond hope that Jeci would speak to her. "Unless you tell me not to I am going to come in." When Jeci made no attempt to speak she moved into the room and walked over to the window seat where Jeci was so she could see her face; her eyes were red as if she had been crying. "I've got good news, better news and not so great news."

Jeci refused to look at Helen, her gaze fixed on something out in the harbor.

"I found your belly ring." She watched Jeci's eyes flick to her face. "That's the better news. The not so great news is it is currently in the upper part of one of my patient's small intestines so it might be a while before it comes out."

Jeci clenched her teeth and Helen watched the muscle over her jaw pop out and tense from the movement.

"The good news is you don't need surgery." Helen forced a smile and held up the black brace in her hand. "You do need to wear this and rest your knee. That means no stairs, elevator only and not a lot of walking. Even though you didn't tear anything it is very possible you've bruised and pulled some tendons and ligaments."

Jeci didn't move except to breathe.

"I need to show you how to put on the brace." Still Jeci didn't move. Helen closed her eyes, licking her lips and took a deep breath before opening them to look at her again. "I understand that you are angry. What you need to understand is that I've had a hell of a day already and it's only going to get worse. I would appreciate it if you would cooperate even if you do not speak."

Slowly, Jeci turned her body so that her leg was hanging off the window sill and Magnus was able to reach it.

"Alright. Thank you." Helen leaned over. "Slip it on like this." She pulled the brace over Jeci's bare foot until it was positioned correctly. "You need to tighten these straps, each one so that it doesn't move." She spoke as she did it making sure that the young woman was watching. "You need to keep it on this setting and not put a lot of weight on it. I'll tell you when we can change the setting so you'll be able to bend it more. I would confine you to crutches but with your ribs it's not really a possibility at this point."

Helen turned to look at Jeci before she prepared to step away, but when their eyes connected she saw the tears start to spill over her cheeks, the yellow eyes closing and her nose redden. Helen stood stunned for a moment as the woman broke down in front of her. Giving in to the moment she wrapped her arms around Jeci's shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Jeci's face buried in her abdomen as she stood and the woman sat.

She felt the water wet tears bleed through her blouse as she held tightly. She lifted her right hand and ran it over the caramel curls. "Guess we've both had a bad afternoon, huh?"

Jeci surprised her by nodding against her stomach.

"Do you want to talk about it? Maybe tell me the significance of your ring?"

Jeci shook her head and grasped Helen's hips with her hands. She kept them there for a minute before roughly pushing Helen back almost causing her to lose her balance and fall into the bed behind her, but Jeci didn't let go until she was sure Helen had secured her footing again. She sniffed loudly and looked down at the floor. She wanted to talk to Helen, she really did. She wanted to tell her everything about her, even the not so pretty things. She wanted to tell Helen the truth, but she couldn't. She couldn't talk to her because she'd lost something very dear to her, even if she had 'found' it. She couldn't tell her any of her dark secrets because then Helen would never trust her, she would kick her out of the Sanctuary and she'd never feel the comfort of her touch again. She looked up as Helen's phone rang.

"Great." Helen looked at the caller ID. "Kate?" Letting out a large sigh Helen responded. "I'm on my way." She turned back to Jeci who was pressing her palms into the window sill and staring at her toes. "I have to leave, but I'll be back in a few hours if you want to talk." There was no response from Jeci. "Right. I'll stop by when I return." Helen stepped out of the room, shutting the door just as Jeci let out a heart wrenching sob.

Helen stopped by Will's office before head to her room. "Kate run into problems?"

"Yeah. Would you mind stopping by Jeci's room?"

"Scared of her still? I don't think she's going to grow fangs and claws or throw knives at you." He was smirking and rolling a baseball between his fingers.

"Will, go talk to her. And I want all your paperwork on my desk by morning and the rest that has been returned to you filed."

"Right… don't antagonize the boss when she's in a pissy mood." Will turned to his computer monitor listening as the clacking heels of his boss faded down the hallway. "I really need to learn how to shut up sometimes." He groaned and went to fix a snack for him and Jeci before he entered her room. Knocking gently on the door he heard the sniffle. "Jeci?"

"Yeah. Come in." She called back to him. Will opened the door to a very peculiar sight. Jeci was sitting on the bed with the brace Helen had given her on the other side of the room where it had clearly been thrown. Her eyes and nose were red and wet and her hair was a mess. That wasn't even the worst of it. It looked like a tornado had gone through the room. He was pretty sure all the items in her suitcase had been hurled in a fit of rage, and considering the suitcase was hanging haphazardly from the furthest post of the four poster bed, he guessed it had been thrown too. Lying next to the knee brace was a small zebra printed vibrator. He quickly pulled his eyes away from it and back to Jeci's. "I brought some fruit, cheese and crackers."

"I'm not hungry."

"Biggie's cod fill you up this morning?"

"Something like that." She grumbled.

"You need to eat, it'll help you heal."

"I don't give a flying fuck about healing." She growled at him.

He set the plate of food down on the bed and sat on the edge trying to forget about the black and white sex toy in the corner with the bright pink power twist base. He really hoped she hadn't used it there. "Well at least you're talking to me."

She stared at him. "So I take it Helen sent her minion to try and find out what my deal is?"

"She's concerned about you." He waved his hand at the carnage around him. "Frankly, I'm worried about you."

"You needn't be."

"Oh I have doubts about that." He replied quietly, but loud enough that she could hear.

"It's just stupid." Bringing a fist up she rubbed at her eyes that were starting to water again. "Really stupid."

"The ring?" Jeci nodded. "Where'd you get it?"

"I had it made. The sapphires were my grandmother's. They were part of the anniversary ring that my grandfather gave her before he ran away and never came back. She moved in with us and… it wasn't good. Anyway, she died years later and my dad being the brilliant butt-fuck that he was went and sold them. I went and bought them back from the pawn shop and had this made."

Will handed her a tissue. "How old were you?"

"What?" Her eyes widened and looked at him before she started to settle again. "Oh, I was twelve."

"You had your belly pierced when you were twelve."

"Did it myself." Jeci canted her head and blew her nose. "Whore."

"I'm sorry?"

"No, not you." It was issued with malice even though it wasn't meant that way. She leaned forward ignoring the pain in her knee as she moved and plucked off some of the grapes he brought up. She stuffed them into her mouth.

Will carefully took a bite of watermelon. "Who is the whore?"

"What?"

"Who is the whore, Jeci? The one you were just talking about." The second time he asked he was staring directly at her. He wanted an answer.

"No one of course, no one." Her words belied her expression. Biting into another grape she threw the rest back onto the plate. "I want a shower."

"Alright." He glanced at the bathroom just as she did.

"Would you—do you mind staying here? I don't know…" She took a deep breath. "I don't feel comfortable—"

"Yeah, Jeci. I'll stay here." He watched her struggle to stand and make her way to the other room and hold onto the doorjamb. "Holler if you need me."

"Thank you." The words were soft and she shut the door behind her. Will popped his lips and looked around. He really should tidy up for her.

He stood and started picking up her clothes and folding them neatly. He was pretty certain they were clean and he used a pair of underwear to pick up the vibrator and toss it in the top drawer of the maple dresser in the room. He threw her all her underwear on top. There was no way he was going to fold them; he did his best to not even look at them. The black lacey ones and the red low cut ones, the purple thong. He shook his head. Jeci was a nice girl, and he didn't need those images in his head. Next he took care of putting her shirts in drawers and her jeans on hangers and hung them in the closet. When he finished he retrieved the suitcase and zipped it up and placed it on the closet shelf.

He didn't think she would be leaving anytime soon between her knee and the ribs she really needed to rest and, right now, Magnus would find any excuse to keep her there. He wondered briefly if she was attracted to her. Certainly not, though she was better looking than Olaf Von Ausberg—who Will had caught Magnus video chatting with. Even Will knew the guy wasn't that good looking and his flirting with his boss grated on his nerves to the point where each time he walked into the room and saw him on the screen he felt his stomach wrench with disgust. He picked her brace up and looked around the room. "Much better."

He checked his watch and realized she'd been in the bathroom for forty minutes most of which the shower had been running as it was still doing. He knocked on the door. "Jeci?" No answer. "Jeci!" Still nothing. He reached down to turn the knob.

It was locked. Growling he used the strength that he didn't know he had and shoved his shoulder into the door. It didn't budge. "Really? Seriously? You lock the door yet you ask me to stay to help?" He fiddled with the handle again before it was jerked open.

"Hey."

"Hi." Will answered slightly bewildered.

"I'm good you can go."

He waited, his eyes scanning her form. She had yet to fully leave the room, but the steam was departing like a mass exodus. "Yeah I'm thinking not. Are you dressed?" He didn't wait and shoved the door open. He noted that the shower was still running and her clothes were in the corner of the bathroom. She was completely naked with only a small white towel wrapped around her body. She was putting no weight on her leg. "Need help?" He turned his head to the side and grinned. "Because I think you need help." Leaning into the shower he turned the water off. "You should have taken a bath, but if you tell Magnus that I let you shower instead of a bath we're both going to be in trouble so how about we just keep that a secret between us." He winked setting a hand around her back on her hip.

"Sure." She let him lead her back to the bed and waited as he returned with her clothes. "You cleaned."

"It looked like your suit case blew up. Need help or got this?" At the look on her face he sighed. "Fine." Rolling the shirt up, he popped it over her head without warning. "Undies you can do." He handed them to her and turned his back until she was finished. Kneeling down he helped her with the jeans and let her finish while he retrieved the brace. "But if you don't wear this I will tell Magnus you took a shower instead of a bath and I have to say after the day she's had you do not want her angry with you."

Jeci sighed and took the brace siding it onto her leg. Pulling her body up, she lay against the headboard and sighed taking the damp towel and running it through her hair. "Thank you."

"Wow, two thanks yous in one day. Should I keep a record?"

"Shut up, Will." She rolled her eyes and grinned.

"Ok, I'm done. I'll bring up some dinner later since I'm guessing dinner in the dining hall is going to be canceled to night."

"Is there left over Chinese?"

"Yeah." He nodded and ran a hand over the back of his hair. Stalking out of the room he turned back quickly when he reached the door. "Oh and Magnus will get the ring back, it'll just take a bit longer than she originally thought it would. But she never lets her people down."

"I'm not her people."

"Right." Will smiled. "I think you are a bit. More than you think anyway." Shutting the door with a smile he left her alone.

Once the door was closed, she pulled the brace off. It wasn't like she needed it while she was in bed, of course Helen hadn't exactly told her when to wear it or not wear it. Her people, Jeci thought about that. She definitely wasn't Helen's people. Helen's people were refined, she thought about that some more. Maybe not Biggie, or Will or Henry, she didn't know Kate all that much except she'd worked for the Cabal. Maybe Helen's people weren't refined after all. But what had Will meant that she was more than she thought? Certainly Helen was just using her the same way she was her. If she could honestly say that was the only reason she was there. She lied to everyone else why not herself?

She pulled the brace on and got up and moved out of her room and into the elevator. Helen's study was two floors down or was it three? She could easily get lost in the Sanctuary and blame it on not knowing where she was because the place was like a giant maze. What had Will said about not wanting Helen to be angry with her after the day she'd had? She pressed the button to open the doors and stepped back into the guest corridor.

"Going somewhere?" Henry raised his eyebrows in question as his crystal blue eyes searched her face.

"Changed my mind, I'm heading back to my room."

"Really? Would you rather have dinner in the media room? I can pop in 'Death Zombies Fright Night 3'."

"Zombies? Really? Don't you have anything that's actually scary?"

"Kate is going to love you." He smiled. "Come on, she should be back soon. We'll order pizza and watch Zombies. Then when Kate gets put together you two can watch the scary movie."

"Awww are you a fwady kitty?" Jeci pursed her lips and smiled as Henry backed into the elevator holding the doors for her.

"Sure… right. Us dogs don't like cats." He smirked and the doors shut after Jeci had joined him.


	9. Chapter 9

Jeci barely woke when her door slid open. The light is what told her there was a change, and she blinked and rubbed her eyes trying to figure out what was going on. Her face was pressed half into the pillow and she was prying her eyes open to try and focus on whoever it was before the door was shut. Once the room was blanketed in darkness again, she heard the tapping of shoes on the ground and let out a long sigh. Helen sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Jeci slowly turned over.

The door was still open a crack and Helen held her palm out so that Jeci could see the light shimmer off the sapphires that were embedded in the ring. Jeci pushed herself to lean against the headboard hoping that Helen didn't realize that she had no brace on her leg. She reached forward to take the ring, but Helen clasped her fingers over the jewelry.

"You don't have to say anything, as I assume you're not going to anyway." Helen drew in a deep breath and pressed her hands into her lap. "I don't know the significance of this piece of jewelry, but I assume because of your reaction that it is quite great." She licked her lips and finally looked at Jeci. "Here, minor surgery on my patient removed the item. It's been cleaned and sterilized, it's all ready for you and you have my sincerest apologies for losing it." Helen held out her hand and waited for the woman to reach for it again.

Jeci took the piece and looked it over before leaning to turn on the bedside lamp, illuminating their bodies. Helen was dressed in leather, her jacket tight around her body, and her hair pulled away from her face. Her jeans seemed strange on her body and Jeci realized she must be wearing boots which was why the footfalls sounded odd. Looking at the clock, she turned back to stare at the piece of metal. Three in the morning and she was being given jewelry, in any other situation this would have been a good sign.

"Right." Helen patted her legs. "I'll let you get back to sleep then." She made to rise, but Jeci slapped a hand on her thigh and Helen sat immediately, the warmth flowing up her leg and into her chest. The look in Jeci's eyes was begging her to stay and she couldn't deny it.

"Are you talking to me again?" Helen made the quip. Jeci studied her and saw the purple circles under her eyes, the scratch on her cheek and the weary gaze when she took a deep breath. "I'm tired, Jeci, either speak or don't, but I would really like to sleep."

Jeci used her other hand to push her body up so that she was sitting upright and facing Helen. Her eyes scanned Helen's body, the exhaustion almost permeable. Jeci used her hand to balance her body. "You didn't have to perform an unnecessary surgery to retrieve my jewelry."

"Oh, I very much think I had to." Helen gave a wan smile. "However, patient survived, no harm done." Her eyes crinkled slightly before she glanced up.

"Helen…" Jeci waited until she had the woman's full attention. "It wasn't necessary, but thank you." There was a pause before Helen went to speak, her lips parted but Jeci leaned forward and covered her mouth. Helen moaned tasting honey as she slipped her tongue against Jeci's in a slow dance before pulling back suddenly.

"Jeci."

The young woman whispered against Helen's cheek, her hot breath brushing over the hair that had escaped Helen's tie and her ear. "The stones were my grandmothers. Beyond that the story isn't pertinent." Pulling back slightly her eyes wide, Jeci made sure that the information was absorbed before she started to peck her lips against Helen's, slowly and lingering each time a bit longer. Sucking Helen's lower lip into her mouth, she scraped her teeth gently against the moist skin and smiled when the woman mewled and listed towards her.

Helen slipped her tongue lazily against Jeci's, cupping the back of her head and keeping her in place. Her body started to relax one muscle after the other and the warm soothing sensation that started in her leg took complete control of her body. When the last knot in the back of Helen's neck released she sighed and rested her forehead against the young woman's. "Jeci, I'm exhausted."

"I know. Go get some sleep."

The blue eyes flickered up and locked on yellow ones. Helen nodded quietly and pushed herself from the bed. Without looking back she made for the door and shut it. Leaning against the wall just outside Jeci's room, she let out a deep breath. She closed her eyes and could still feel the soft lips against hers. Making for the elevator, Helen stepped through the doors that opened instantly and stood in the middle of the ancient device while it brought her to her the residential wing that she resided on. "That cannot happen again." Her voice echoed the room and set her resolve.

Stepping into her room, she shucked her clothes and collapsed onto her bed in nothing other than panties and the shirt she had been wearing. She felt far more relaxed than when she entered Jeci's room, all the soreness from her muscles was gone and her mind was at ease. Taking a deep breath Helen let the fingers of sleep pull her under their warm blanket.

Magnus sat straight up in the bed when her door slammed open. Her chest was heaving as she woke from a dead sleep, her eyes wide and staring at her protégé as he gave her an odd look. "This had better be good, William, and something had better be seriously wrong."

"You mean other than the fact that you're still sleeping and it's after ten in the morning, that Declan is on the phone refusing to hang up until he talks to you about the lizard things or whatever, and that you missed the head of house meeting this morning. Nope, nothing's wrong." He watched as she turned to the bedside clock and groaned.

"Out."

Backing out the door and pulling it shut behind him, Will left her alone and went to check on Jeci. Helen stood under the hot spray of the shower reveling in its warmth as it washed away the remaining sleep that was trying so desperately to hold her in its grasp. She opened the shampoo, squirting a healthy glob of it into her hand and inhaling its scent before massaging it into her scalp. Thoroughly rinsing the suds away when she was done, she repeated the process with her conditioner. When she emerged from the shower, the mirror above the sink was so fogged over with steam she could barely make out her pale outline reflected back at her. She wrapped a towel around her torso and then roughly ran a second through her hair, towel drying it as best she could before returning to her room to pull on clothes for the day. As far as she knew she'd be staying in that Sanctuary and that meant professional attire. She opted for a pair of black slacks and a plum colored blouse.

After dressing Helen made her way to the kitchen where she prepared her morning tea and ran into Will. "How is our guest this morning?"

Will looked at her with weary eyes. "Fine, I guess."

"You guess?" Her eyes narrowed on him even as the tea kettle started to whistle.

"Are you going to get that?" He waited for her to remove the offending object from the hot burner before answering her. "She wasn't in her room."

"So, where is she?" Helen folded her arms across her chest.

"She's in her room now." He offered no further explanation.

Helen took the kettle off the stove and set the ball with leaves into it before turning to lean against the counter. "Where was she, Will?" She asked when he didn't answer. Her eyes swept over his body and she recognized the stress: the biting on the inside of his left cheek, the fingertips being run back and forth over each other, and the slouch in his shoulders.

"You need to go see her."

"Why?"

"She's acting funny."

Helen's eyebrows rose and she stood up straight. "Funny how? Will, what's going on?"

"I don't know." He ran his fingers through his hair. "She was gone when I went up there, I went to search for her, checked back and she was in her room again. Henry's looking on the camera's to see where she went, but she's acting really weird."

"What is she doing?" Helen was already stepping out of the room, her tea long forgotten as she headed for the elevator.

"Like she's in a lot of pain. But she's not saying anything. She's completely silent, and this is Jeci… she's never quiet unless she's drugged." Helen gave him a sharp look, practically bouncing in her toes until the doors to the elevator opened. They both slipped in and waited impatiently.

Helen was by Jeci's side in an instant and heard Jeci groan and vomit over the side of her bed. Will immediately stepped to the other side, while Helen held the curls back from Jeci's face. "What's going on?"

Jeci's head shook sharply before she regurgitated more of that morning's meal into the trash bin that Helen managed to pull over. It was a few minutes before Jeci pressed her back into the bed, and Will handed Magnus a damp and cool cloth. Helen began to clean Jeci's face, but each time the fabric touched Jeci's skin the woman would pull away and moan.

"Jeci, talk to me." Pleading, Helen stopped the motion and issued a look to Will asking for her old friend. Will left, and Helen reached out to brush her fingers over Jeci's cheek, but Jeci pulled back suddenly dreading the hurt that the touch would cause. Helen looked over as Biggie stepped quietly into the room. "I don't know what's wrong. I need Phenergan and…" She hummed softly. "Just bring my old medical bag."

He knew exactly the one she was referring to, it had belonged to her father and she kept it stocked with a plethora of supplies for just such cases. He grunted lightly before padding out of the room. Helen kept her worried eyes on Jeci as she tried to get her to tell her what was going on. She was hot, feverishly so, with beads of sweat forming on her forehead and upper lip. Despite the fever, her cheeks lacked their normal blush: the rosy pinkness had been replaced by a gray pallor. Her body trembled slightly, but Helen wasn't convinced it was from chills as her teeth weren't chattering. Again she threw her head over the side of the bed groaning as her torso twisted and her ribs protested. This time she dry heaved painfully bringing up nothing but the occasional thread of spittle into the waiting trashcan.

When Biggie returned Helen gave a small sigh of relief. She could at least alleviate some of Jeci's discomfort. She debated checking her temperature, knowing she really needed to get some idea of what she was dealing with. If Jeci's temperature was too high more drastic measures would have to be taken. "I really need to see what your temperature is. Do you think you can hold a thermometer under your tongue for three minutes?"

Jeci wondered why Helen didn't just use a digital thermometer, but it was hold it under her tongue or in her rectum. She nodded once, immediately regretting the minuscule movement. Helen put the thermometer in her mouth and explained that she needed to draw some blood to check her white blood cell count and a few other things. She pulled out a syringe and an alcohol prep to clean the skin before searching for a vein. Despite the vomiting it wasn't hard to locate the easiest vein to hit in her antecubical area. As she cleaned the area, Helen thought she noticed a small puncture wound there, but she couldn't be sure. She collected the sample she needed and held pressure to the spot until it stopped bleeding. She then reached up and took the thermometer out. A frown creased her forehead. "I'm going to give you an injection of Phenergan and since I know you would only bring it right back up, I'm skipping oral Tylenol and going straight for a suppository."

Jeci felt too bad to argue or even give Helen a 'go to hell' look. She just shrunk back into the mattress as Helen donned a pair of latex gloves and proceeded to shove a very well lubricated bullet shaped suppository a few inches up into her neither regions. When Helen finished, she injected her with a dose of Phenergan and turned to her blue eyed friend. "Would you please sit with her until I return?"

Biggie nodded once and watched as Helen walked out of the room with the syringe of blood in one hand and her medical bag in the other.

She walked into the lab and dropped the black leather bag on one end of the counter then moved to grab the slides and fixatives she would need to look at Jeci's blood. With all the technology available to her, she sometimes preferred to do things the old fashioned way. She also still prepared the blood to run through her full spectrum analysis knowing it would give her quicker results. After fixing the slide and quickly scanning it, she lifted her eyes from the microscope swearing she'd seen that particular mutated cell somewhere before.

Biting her lip, she looked down again, her mind working hard. She wasn't coming up with anything. Giving up for the moment and deciding to try for more information from Jeci, she took the excess blood, labeled it and went to put it in the fridge with all her other samples. She set it into the test-tube rack and moved her hand back slowly. Her eyes were scanning the blue rubbery metal until she noticed that there was something missing. "Oh bloody hell." Helen slammed the door shut, shucking her gloves as she raced up to Jeci's room.

She burst into the room, startling her old friend who backed away at the look of rage on her face. Helen gritted her teeth and bent down close to Jeci's face. "You injected yourself with it, didn't you?"

Jeci's eyes were wide with fear, and tears were starting to stream down the sides of her face as Helen gripped her cheeks tightly. Jeci finally managed to nod before Helen pushed back and stood up straight with her hands on her back.

"Do you know how stupid that was?" She was pacing back and forth in front of the dresser as Jeci began to sob, the pain still wracking through her system, her terror at the wrath of Helen and what was happening to her body overwhelming her.

Biggie grunted a few times before he stepped over to Jeci to try and calm her. "What happened?"

Magnus threw her hand into the air to try and calm herself before she glared at him. "She injected herself with the bat's blood. The bat that was presumed to have blood significantly close to that of the Source Blood."

"Does it?"

"What?" Helen was stopped in her rage.

"Does it have similar properties?" Her old friend repeated.

"To an extent yes, but it is not completely the same. Which, is my guess, as to why her reaction is far more severe than any of us ever went through." Helen was rubbing a hand over her forehead and temples, thinking as fast as she could. "Damn it."

Jeci took that moment to groan and lean over the edge of the bed again, her body heaving for everything it was worth before she felt comfortable enough to lean against the pillows once more, this time with the help of Bigfoot. Helen looked at Jeci, she was so mad she was finding it hard to feel sorry for her. She wanted to wrap her fingers around her neck and strangle her. What she had done was stupid. But even as she glared at her she noticed the trembling in her body, the fear and pain in her eyes and her anger softened. "We need to get her to the infirmary."

"I'll get a gurney." Biggie turned to leave.

"There isn't time, radio Will." Helen's eyes never left Jeci.

"Am I going to die?"

Helen closed her eyes for a second. She could lie, in her line of work she had learned to be rather good at it. She sighed. "I don't know."

"Why…" she heaved, this time without moving from her prone position on the bed. "Why isn't the medication helping?"

"Because you put a foreign body into yours and it's changing you. I don't know that there is anything I can give you for the pain or the nausea that will help. I'll do what I can."

Jeci nodded, her eyes rolling back in her head as her entire body tensed and then relaxed before jerking repeatedly. Helen moved quickly to her side to prevent her from rolling off the edge of the bed and hurting herself. She placed her hand on the back of Jeci's head and looked worriedly at Biggie who was waiting for Will to arrive. "I need you to go set up the cooling blankets and have an IV of D5 normal saline ready to go when we get her down there."

"Fever?"

Helen nodded. "Go—I'll be fine until Will arrives."

When Jeci regained consciousness an hour later, Helen was at her side sitting with her hip propped on the edge of the bed just touching the outside of her thigh. "I'm cold."

Helen glanced to the monitor that was reporting all her vitals including her core temperature via a small anal probe. "You're temperature was a little too high and we had to put you under cooling blankets. I think we can get rid of them for the time being." She started to pull the blankets off and set them aside before tugging up a normal blanket to cover Jeci's legs. "Why'd you do it?"

Jeci was shaking, her body practically jerking in the bed from the shivers running up her body. But it wasn't cold or heat or fever that was making them so violent. It was pure fear. Ignoring the question she asked one of her own. "What's going to happen to me?" Her voice was wavering and Helen felt immediate pity for her.

Pressing a hand into Jeci's arm, Helen attempted to calm and soothe. "I don't know, we'll find out."

There were tears budding in the bottom of Jeci's eyes and she was shaking her head, biting her lip and holding her breath. "I'm scared."

Helen gave in and pulled Jeci to rest against her, her arms locking around the young woman's back and rubbing circles into her back. Jeci pressed her face into Helen's neck and let herself be held, focusing only on the sensation of the hands against her and the smell of the skin at Helen's neck.

She wasn't sure how long Helen had held her when she finally gathered herself enough to pull back. "Why are you being so nice to me? I wouldn't be if the roles were reversed."

Helen looked into her honey-yellow eyes searching for an answer to the question. "I don't know. Maybe because I think you were misguided in what you did."

"I…" Jeci made a face and grabbed her head as lightening shot through it.

"Hurt?" Helen asked quietly.

"Yes." Jeci whispered as Helen laid her back on the bed and stood. "Please don't leave me."

Helen smiled sadly. "I'm not going anywhere." She walked to the light switch and dimmed the overhead lights, then grabbed a cool cloth and placed it over Jeci's forehead. "We'll talk when you feel up to it."

"I don't know why I did it." Jeci blurted out as Helen reclaimed her spot on the bed.

"Oh but I think you do." Helen laid a gentle hand on Jeci's thigh feeling the heat through the thin blanket covering it. "I think you might be embarrassed or afraid to share that reason right now."

Jeci licked her lips and waited for the shooting pain in her head to subside. Drawing in a deep breath, she wrapped her fingers with Helen's and squeezed. "I'm feeling a lot better."

"Are you?"

Nodding, Jeci opened her eyes to look at the woman and gave her a sweet smile. "You're worried about me."

"You are avoiding my question." Helen bounced back at her.

"Of course I am. Why are you worried?" Jeci paused for only a second before she continued. "Because you've been through this, you know exactly what's happening."

Helen cocked her head to the side and stared at the woman curiously. "How did you know that?"

"I…" Jeci shook her head and her entire body started to shake again. "I…" She groaned and winced. "Helen…" Her body jerked again, her muscles in her neck and chest tensing as her body lifted off the gurney and fell down in a random rhythm.

Helen stood and held her down so that she wouldn't fall off the bed, her mind racing and her eyes staring at the hurting form. "Bloody hell."


	10. Chapter 10

Helen sat at her bedside looking over the file she had compiled on the young woman. She was presumably from Kansas, lived on her own, had an older brother who was killed in a car accident, and she was also a lying, thieving, conniving little brat. She'd thought of worse words then brat, but her temper was slowly waning over the latest incident. Still looking back on all she had done to get to this point, it made Helen's blood boil. Then there was the issue of the email drafts that were being used to secretly communicate with someone. Her mother, Helen laughed harshly. Who was it? Did they want her to inject herself with the blood? If so, she really did feel sorry for Jeci, and if not then she wondered if the curly haired woman wasn't more misguided then she thought possible.

She debated creating her own email draft while Jeci was sleeping just a few feet away in the infirmary bed. She could keep her from checking the messages, for a while at least. She'd already given her a dose of morphine after the last seizure to help control the incredible amount of pain she was in. Despite her anger, Helen wondered if it wasn't more then the blood changing Jeci. The blood was pure, pulled straight from the bat. The antibodies from the abnormal reacting with human antibodies alone could kill her. She sighed and focused back on what to do about the emails. She could set up a meeting, tell the other person she had the goods. She looked up as Will stepped into the room.

"There's a problem."

Helen raised her brow and waited for him to continue.

"We have to go to Japan: Suki has gone crazy. Dr. Lee just called, the flight leaves in two hours."

Blue eyes traversed over Jeci's body as she watched the slow rise and fall of her chest. "They absolutely need me?"

"Yes." Will caught the look of reticence and hesitation.

"Would you get my old friend, then? I'll need to update him on Jeci's condition." She waited as Will nodded and left the room. Helen set the tablet aside and cupped a hand around Jeci's cheek. "I was really hoping to speak with you, but I suppose it will have to wait."

Helen waited for Biggie outside the room Jeci was in and let him know what she was thinking about her medical condition. "I want you to keep a close eye on her and if anything changes at all, I want to be notified immediately."

Biggie nodded before she hurried off to pack a bag and take off for the other side of the world.

The room was spinning and she couldn't make out where she was. Everything was white and blaring into her corneas. Jeci rubbed her eyes harshly and moaned until she was able to finally make out shapes and figures around her. "Where is everybody?" Jeci looked around the room finally feeling something approaching human.

"They got called away." Biggie grunted. He wasn't sure he liked this kid at all, and to her that's exactly what she was, a kid. It took a lot to earn his trust, sometimes even more than it did to earn Helen's.

"Another bat?" She lifted a brow, her interest in whatever had taken the others away was far from enthusiastic and it caused him to feel sorry for her. Almost.

"Lizard."

"A lizard?" Jeci's brows raised as she looked at him, trying to discern whether he was making a joke or telling the truth.

"What they do…"

"Never mind." She shook her head already knowing he was going to tell her it was confidential. "I don't want to know." She looked at the covered tray sitting over to the side. "If that's your special breakfast, I'll pass."

"Peanut butter and jelly."

"I can do that." She reached for it and Biggie brought it closer. Pulling off the lid, Jeci took a small bite as she watched him. "You don't like me."

"I don't know you."

Her eyes crinkled at the corners in a smile. "I like anyone who tells me the truth. Can I get my tablet back?"

Biggie's head turned to the side and he regarded her carefully. Pointing at the plate, he spoke, "Eat your food." Grunting, he left the room. He moved into Helen's office and started the video call to her, knowing she was off the plane and at the Tokyo Sanctuary. As her face appeared on the screen, he spoke without preamble, "She wants a tablet."

"Give her one."

"I don't trust her."

"It's my decision. I have the password, I'll know to look soon." She gave him a quick smile. "Be kind to her, old friend, I think we can learn much from her."

"Still don't like her."

Helen shook her head and ended the call without saying goodbye.

"See," Jeci smiled slightly when he came back with a tablet in hand. "I knew I'd grow on you."

He looked at the partially eaten sandwich. "Eat first."

"I did eat." She looked at the plate, four bites was eating.

"All of it."

"I don't really like this kind of peanut butter." She made a face as she pried the top of the sandwich off. "I don't like crunchy things in my peanut butter, I'm always afraid it's a dead bug or something."

"You're afraid of bugs?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Only of eating dead ones." She shrugged slightly already feeling better than when she'd first awoken.

"Fine, what do you want?" He grumbled.

"The tablet?" She was hopeful.

"I meant to eat." He sighed and held the tablet out to her.

She grinned, but her lips quickly pressed into a thin line as she thought about what had just happened. The tall hairy guy didn't seem like he'd be that easy of a push over, and she had never been able to do anything like that without touching a person before. "Do you have any ham? I like ham, and dill pickles on the side."

Biggie grunted at her a few times before leaving the room with heavy feet scuffling on the floor. He shouldn't have given her the tablet without making her eat first. If only Helen knew.

Jeci waited two seconds until he was gone before turning the electronic device on. Going straight for the internet and into her email, she composed a draft. Typing the words quickly, she saved it and exited everything, making sure to delete her browsing history and all cookies. Looking around after finishing her email, Jeci spotted her cell phone on the table beside her. She smiled and picked it up, knowing everything was monitored made what she was about to do that much sweeter.

Pulling up text messaging, Jeci searched for Helen's name before beginning a new text. She typed, "I'm fine, Hairy is grumpy. Oh! And I miss you!" before hitting send and tucking the phone down against her leg. She would wait for an answer, but she wouldn't expect one soon. Helen was a busy woman, and if she had to fly out unexpectedly then she most certainly was dealing with an emergency.

After she ate the sandwich, pickle and apple Biggie had brought to her, she rubbed her eyes. "Can I go back to my room?"

"No." His answer was short and abrupt.

Her head was starting to hurt and she could swear she could hear what he was thinking and it was beginning to make her brain throb. "Please?"

"I'm sorry." But he wasn't.

"Why not?" She just wanted to hear him say it out loud. He wanted to keep an eye on her, and not because of what he was about to say but because he didn't trust her.

"Because you could have another seizure, and I need you where I can take care of you." He sat down on the stool opening Nicolas Sparks' latest book which had been a present from Helen.

"Well I guess if it's because you love me and are concerned." She rolled her eyes.

* * *

Helen was waiting to hear from Will and Kate on what they found in Mumbai when she remembered she hadn't followed up on Jeci's email exchange. She pulled the web browser open and logged into the email account seeing there was one document in the draft folder. Helen assumed that because the email was still in the draft folder that it had not been read, that had seemed to be the pattern before—read and delete. Hovering the cursor over it, she clicked and quickly scanned it.

"I'm out. I can't do this anymore. Find someone else to be your lackey. I'm done, no need to contact me anymore."

Helen hit delete just as her phone beeped reminding her of a text message she'd received when she was in a teleconference call earlier. She read a message from Will requesting her assistance and replied before scanning the rest of the messages in her phone. Realizing she had never responded to Jeci's text, Helen pursed her lips. She didn't know if she should answer or not, the text was rather benign and odd, considering, but with the email she had read, perhaps Jeci was coming around to their side. Jeci wanted out of whatever agreement or deal she had entered into, which was obviously the one that had sent her down to South America. Helen typed a quick reply to Jeci's text before grabbing her bag and heading to the airport.

Jeci's phone buzzed on the night stand in her room. Her head was pounding with the different thoughts flooding through it, and she had confined herself to her room with no lights. The Big Guy came in a few times a day with food, but other than that she refused to have contact with anyone. Glaring at the phone, she read the text. "I miss you, too."

It brought a small smile to Jeci's face before she wrote back. "In an answer to what it did to me… I'm telepathic. Make the voices stop!"

With no answer, Jeci laid back in the dark and stared at the ceiling. Her mind whirled in a frenzy of what everyone was thinking about her, especially the Big Guy. He seemed to have many thoughts on her person that he did not share openly with her. It wasn't long before he was running Henry to the airport at Helen's behest and she finally had reprieve from his negative thoughts.

There was no one on her floor. How exactly she knew that there was no one there was beyond her, but Jeci knew that no one was on her floor. Twisting her body, Jeci reached into the top drawer of the night stand and pulled out the zebra print vibrator. Smiling, she shucked her jeans and undies, tugged off her shirt and bra, and gripped the lube she had also brought. This would be a wonderful way to work off the headache.

She flipped the top open to the lube and dribbled the liquid over the penis shaped head and down the shaft. Her mind wandered briefly as she wondered if there was an abnormal out there with a zebra stripped prick. She blushed: the word had popped in her mind unbidden. Having covered the battery operated penis in more than enough liquid lube to slide it in, Jeci sat the container aside and slipped a finger between her legs running it along her slightly swollen and now throbbing lips. Feeling the wetness, she realized she might could have foregone the lube altogether. She couldn't remember the last time she'd needed to get off this badly; she had been hoping the Big Guy and Henry would long leave before now.

Wishing Helen would have texted her back about her head, Jeci sighed. Helen. Her mind fought the pull that the woman had on her. Jeci bit her lip and dipped her finger into her core. She probed around for a second before adding another. Jeci's fingers pumped lightly in and out, in and out. She could feel the pull of skin and the scrape of her nails and she moved her fingertips to rub at her hard nub and reveled in the sweet and gentle waves of pleasure that it brought her.

She scoped the juices that were dripping from her onto her fingers and licked them off as she wondered what Helen tasted like. The thought caused her to blush as she realized how badly she wanted to taste the other woman at that very moment. Moving her hand upward, Jeci fisted her breast and squeezed tightly before releasing. She looked down and caught her nipple between her thumb and forefinger as it hardened. Twisting her fingers, Jeci released her hand before repeating the process. The dildo was pressed against her abdomen and when she brought her other hand up to massage her breasts, she felt her hips rise. Her heels pressed into the mattress and lifted her body higher until she grew too impatient with herself.

Spreading her legs wider, Jeci picked up the dildo ignoring the lube that covered her skin and aimed the large head at her center before pushing it in. It was larger than she'd remembered, or maybe it really had been that long since she'd used it. She pushed harder and it slipped in past her opening and she felt it pop right into place, the nub of the clit stimulator rested against her.

She wasn't going to rush any more than necessary. She moved her thumb to the closest button and the toy started to vibrate both inside and against her clit. Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, and centering her breathing, Jeci waited. She was going to concentrate on nothing but the sensations she was feeling. It worked until one of the residents started to give himself a hand job two floors down while imagining Will.

Jeci let out a groan, and pressed the same button again increasing the vibrations a level; she had to find her happy place. Twisting the vibrator slightly, she felt the electric tingle shoot up through her and she smiled inwardly before pressing the button on the opposite side that sent the head that was buried deep inside her on a rotating frenzy. She could feel it going around and around, pressing against her walls as they tightened on it. The pressure against her was wonderful, and she focused on that and nothing else as it grew in a crescendo.

After several minutes, she felt her muscles grip at the humming toy. At first they were soft and slow and then they became harder and her whole body jerked as her walls pulled on it. The sound of the toy changed in intensity as the orgasm subsided.

She had been quiet which was a feat for her; she wasn't sure how sound proof the walls were and the last thing she needed was some scaly freak thinking about what'd she'd just done. Her head felt slightly better, but she really needed something to make it stop hurting altogether. Something like silence. She pulled the toy free and rolled on her side. She needed a shower even though all she wanted was to come again and again until she passed out. She didn't really want the toy, what she wanted was Helen.

* * *

Helen was too busy to worry about Jeci's new found talent. Telepathy: she rolled the word around in her head. If Jeci really was coming over to Helen's side and if she could really trust her, that 'gift' could be a great asset to her team. Even right now, the ability would come in handy. She cleared her mind of those thoughts as Ravi entered. Jeci would just have to wait for now, there were far more pressing issues at hand. The man leaned over her shoulder as she hurried to finish her conversation with her old friend, the video camera pointed directly at his face.

"When is Henry due to arrive?"

"In two and half hours, but he's going straight to the ship."

"That's good." She nodded her head and smiled to him. "Anything else?"

Biggie let out a groan, "Not that I can't handle."

"Jeci?"

"More than you know." He gave a quick and childish wave to her and closed out the camera, turning around to see Jeci standing behind him, her face pale. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be down here."

"Don't chastise me… my head hurts." She pouted and gripped the back of his chair tightly.

"Well, then take something," his voice rose as he gave her the suggestion and started to shuffle her out of the Henry's lab. She really shouldn't be down there. "Boss is going to have a fit with you being here."

"Not my fault."

"I suppose it isn't." They made it to the elevator and he pressed the button. "Had any seizures?"

"Not since you let me out of the dungeon."

Biggie grunted at her, showing his disapproval for her comment. "I could have kept you there longer."

"I'm glad you didn't…" She gripped her head as she stepped into the elevator and rubbed her fingers over her temples. "Will you stop?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop with the thinking!" She screamed it out and glared at him. "I know I'm ungrateful sometimes, I know I'm a brat sometimes, I know I can be a bit of a bitch if not a full-blown one. I do NOT need to hear it twenty-four-seven from your little pea of a brain!"

Biggie stood stock still as he watched her exit the elevator and tear down the hall. Normally he would feel sorry for her, even guilty for all his negative thoughts, but right now he just felt angry. It was an anger he didn't understand, as if he was mad because someone had said or thought all those things about him. He cocked his head to the side and looked down the hall as the elevator doors closed cutting her room off from view. He reached forward and pressed the button to go down. She had a headache, maybe he could help with that.

She growled to herself as she heard a tapping at the door. "What?!"

Biggie opened the door and stepped in, he handed her two aspirin and a glass of water. "Take this."

She did as she was told without question, putting the two lightly coated pills on her tongue and gulping down half the contents of the glass before handing it back.

He took the glass and handed her a small electronic device.

"What?" She flipped it over in her hand and looked at the ear buds wondering if they'd been put in his ears. The thought sent a shiver up her back.

"It's an MP3 player, music."

"I know what it is." She cut her eyes up to him and watched his nostrils flare.

"Maybe it will help with the voices in your head." He offered quietly, although he really just wanted to box her ears in.

"What voices?"

"You told me…"

"Oh, right." She nodded. "I guess I can give it a try." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled softly. "Thanks." The little exchange, while annoying, set her at ease and she was smiling when Biggie left the room. Pressing the head phones into her ears, she turned on the device and listened as soft music began to play. It was classical and gentle, not what she would have expected from him. Jeci fell asleep listening to the soft strums of an orchestra.


End file.
